LIBRARY OF>CONGRESS. 

-f/^-^ 

@^Hp.V ©^{i^ngl^i Ip0. 

UNITED STATES OF A3IERICA. 



SANCTIFICATION. 



BY REV. B: CARRADINE, D.D, 



INTRODUCTION BY REV. L. L PICKETT. 






7 L^ 



PRIO© so CENTS. 
ORDER OF L. L. PICKETT, COLUMBIA, S. C, 

OR OP THE 

Publishing House of the M. E. Church, South. 

Barbee & Smith, Agents, Nashville, Tenn. 

1891. 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the yeur 1890, 

By L. L. Pickett, 
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Wasliington. 



The Library 
OF Congress 

WASHINGTON 



PREFATORY INTRODUCTION. 



There is a great revival on the doctrine, experience, and litera- 
ture of holiness. This great Bible doctrine is agitating the 
Churches and people extensively. It is firing the pulpit, ener- 
gizing the pew, awakening the thoughtless, resuscitating the class 
and camp meeting, and harnessing the press to the car of a 
more spiritual and unctuous religious experience than has pre- 
vailed for many years. Books, papers, and tracts are opening 
many eyes to the beauties of holiness, and feeding many hungry 
souls with this " hidden manna " of the Lord. 

And the revival comes none too soon. In many places world- 
liness abounds, and {he seed of the kingdom is being choked by 
the deceitfulness of riches. Ambition, pride, self-love, and place- 
seeking are, to say the least, too common. Full salvation is the 
God-given remedy for these evils. Praise the Lord, the " fullness 
of the blessing " is the divine antidote that effectually removes 
these contagious diseases. But the sad truth is that many op- 
pose the doctrine and deny the experience. It is no uncommon 
thing for even Methodist papers to cast their innuendoes at the 
great Wesleyan and Bible statement of this precious doctrine. 
Some Methodist preachers have departed from the teachings of 
the fathers and have written books to destroy the foundation 
doctrine of the Church. But bless the Lord ! the work is reviv- 
ing. This book will help forward the good cause — the cause 
of Bible holiness. 

When Brother Carradine entered the experience he at once 
told the good news far and wide through the Church papers. 
His rich experience and strong articles on the subject stirred 

'(3) 



A PRE FA TOR r IN TROD UC TION. 

many hearts. Tliese and others will be glad to get this work, so 
as to preserve in permanent form the parts of it they have read 
before and to feed their souls on the truths so well and clearly 
stated in the parts that are new to them. 

I am glad to publish and circulate the book. Brother C. 
knows nothing of these introductory words and will not see 
them till the book is before the public. 

Please circulate the book, and pray for its author, and 

Your humble fellow-laborer, 

L. L. Pickett. 
Columbia, S. C, June 26, 1890. 



CONTENTS. 

Chapter I. page 

My Reasons for Writing , 7 

Chapter II^ 
How I Obtained the Blessing of Sanctification lo 

Chapter III. 
Sanctification Is Not Regeneration, nor Regeneration Ex- 
tended or Perfected 24 

Chapter IV. 
Sanctification Is Not a Recovery from Backsliding 33 

Chapter V. 
Sanctification Is Not Simply a Great Blessing 36 

Chapter VI 
Sanctification Is Not Growth in Grace 42 

Chapter VII. 

Sanctification Is a Distinct Work of God 46 

Chapter VIII. 
Sanctification Is an Experience 54 

Chapter IX. 
Sanctification Is a Life ^ 67 

Chapter X. 

Sanctification Is an Instantaneous Work or Blessing 71 

Chapter XI. 

Sanctification Is Obtained by Faith 78 

Chapter XII. 
Sanctification Is a State or Condition Witnessed To by the 
Holy Ghost 82 

(5) 



6 CONTENTS. 

Chapter XIII. ^^^J 

Where Sanctification Is Symbolically Taught in the Bible.. S9 

Chapter XIV. 
Where Sanctification Is Specifically Taught in the Old Tes- 
tament 106 

Chapter XV. 
Where Sanctification Is Speci.ically Taught in the New 

Testament 116 

Chapter XVI. 

How to Obtain the Blessing of Sanctification 136 

Chapter XVII. 

Certain Difficulties Explained 149 

Chapter XVIII. 
What Sanctification Has Shown. Me, Done for Me, and Is 

to Me Still after Many Days 164 

Chapter XIX. 
Certain Objections to Sanctification Considered and An- 
swered 1 79 

Chapter XX. 
Additional Objections to Sanctification Considered and An- 
swered 194 

Chapter XXI. 
The Final Objection That Sanctification Is Not a Method- 
ist Doctrine Considered and Triumphantly Answered. . . 206 



SANCTIFICATION. 



CHAPTER I. 

MY REASONS FOR WRITING. 

fFIE following are some of my reasons for writ- 
ing upon the subject of entire sanctification : 

First, I am trying to reach a class that, like my- 
self, have lived in a kind of bondage all their 
Christian lives; have longed for perfect spiritual 
rest, and knew not how to obtain it. I speak to 
them. 

Then there is such a thing as a rising genera- 
tion. They need to be taught concerning this 
doctrine. If we are not to declare openly that 
which our elders and superiors have known be- 
forehand, what is to become of this advancing 
host of young people ? Such a policy would put 
an end to the gospel itself. 

Still again, there are occasional articles in our 
papers striking at and ridiculing the doctrine of 
entire sanctification. Some of them remind me 
of Joab's interview with Abner. One hand is 
stretched forth in seeming kindness, when sud- 
denly the other drives a hidden sword to the heart 

(7) 



8 SANC T/FICA TION. 

of the doctrine. In all conscious personal weak- 
ness and unworthiness I appear in this book plead- 
ing for an experience that fills me and thrills me 
at this writing, and as a defender and upholder 
of a doctrine that I know now to be true, because 
it has been transformed into an experience in my 
soul, and become a blessed reality in my life. 

It has been suggested that what I call facts in 
my experience may be fancies. Glory be to God ! 
it is no fancy that Christ has kept me from sin for 
months, and that my soul in all that time has been 
filled with perfect peace and rest and love. It is 
not a fancy that God has in a moment lifted me 
into a state which I have been vainly trying to 
reach for a number of 3^ears. These are facts 
that stand out like Mont Blancs above the range 
of ordinary experiences. ''One thing I know, 
that whereas I was blind, now I see." One expe- 
rience in the converted or sanctified life is worth 
ten thousand theories. 

Furthermore, it is proper to say that there is not 
such general and accurate knowledge of sanctifi- 
cation among the people as some think. The fact 
of the blessing maybe believed in, but the manner 
of obtaining it be unknown, because unproclaimed. 
Hundreds of Methodists in this cit}^ had never 
heard, until a short while since, a sermon on sane- 



MT REASONS FOR WRITING. 9 

tification, in which the blessing was held up as ob- 
tained instantaneously through consecration and 
faith. The Carondelet Street congregation, one 
of the largest and noblest in the Connection, list- 
ened with w^onder; not at the doctrine, but at the 
method of obtaining the blessing. Some doubted 
and drew back; but others, to the number of 
thirty, have entered into the sanctified life. 

There are multiplied thousands in the land who 
know not the way of entrance into the sanctified 
life, and thousands more who are in ignorance of 
sanctification itself. Ask them what it is, and nine 
out of ten will reply that it is a growth in grace, 
while the Scriptures plainly teach that growth in 
grace is man's work, and sanctification is the work 
of God. Because of these things I cannot but 
write and speak of the things I have seen and felt. 



CHAPTER II. 

HOW I OBTAINED THE BLESSING OF SANCTIFICATION. 

ALWAYS believed in the doctrine in a general 
way, but not in the way particular. That is, 
I recognized it as being true in our standards and 
religious biographies ; but was not so quick to see 
it in the life and experience of persons claiming 
the blessing. I was too loyal a Methodist to deny 
what my Church taught me to believe ; but there 
must have been beams and motes that kept me 
from the enjoyment of a perfect vision of my 
b.rother. Perhaps I was prejudiced; or I had con- 
founded ignorance and mental infxrmity with sin ; 
or, truer still, I was looking on a '* hidden life," as 
the Bible calls it, and, of course, could not but 
blunder in my judgments and conclusions, even as 
I had formerly erred as a sinner in my estimation 
of the converted man. 

Several years since I remember being thrown in 
the company of three ministers who were sancti- 
fied men, and their frequent ''praise the Lords" 
was an offense to me. I saw nothing to justify 
such demonstrativeness. The fact entirely es- 
caped me that a heart could be in such a condi- 
(10) 



OBTAINING THE BLESSING. 1 1 

tion that praise and rejoicing would be as natural 
as breathing; that the cause of joy rested not in 
any thing external, but in some fixed inward state 
or possession; that, therefore, perpetual praise 
could not only be possible, but natural, and in 
fact irrepressible. But at that time all this was 
hidden from me, except in a theoretic way, or as 
mistily beheld in distant lives of saints who walked 
with God on earth fifty or a hundred years ago. 

In my early ministry I was never thrown with a 
sanctified preacher, nor have I ever heard a ser- 
mon on entire sanctification until this year. I be- 
held the promised life from a Pisgah distance, and 
came back from the view with a fear and feeling 
that I should never come into that goodly land. 
So, when I was being ordained at Conference, it 
was with considerable choking of voice and with 
not a few inward misgivings and qualms of con- 
science that I replied to the bishop's questions, 
that I was ** going on to perfection," that I *' ex- 
pected to be made perfect in love in this life," and 
that I "was groaning after it." Perhaps the bish- 
op himself was disturbed at the questions he asked. 
Perhaps he thought it was strange for a minister of 
God and father in Israel, whose life was almost 
concluded, to be asking a young preacher if he 
expected to obtain what he himself had never sue- 



12 SANC TIFICA 1 ION. 

ceeded in getting. Stranger still if he asked the 
young prophet if he expected to attain what he 
really felt was unattainable ! 

One thing I rejoice in being able to say: That 
although about that time, w^hile surprised and 
grieved at the conduct of a man claiming the bless- 
ing of sanctification, and although doubts dis- 
turbed me then and even afterward, yet I thank 
God that 1 have never, in my heart or openly, de- 
nied an experience or warred against a doctrine 
that is the cardinal doctrine of the Methodist 
Church, and concerning which I solemnly de- 
clared to the bishop that I was groaning to obtain. 
God in his mercy has kept me from this inconsist- 
ency — this peculiar denial of my Church and my 
Lord. Let me further add that in spite of my in- 
distinct views of sanctification all along, yet ever 
and anon during my life I have encountered relig- 
ious people in whose faces I traced spiritual marks 
and lines — a divine handwriting not seen on every 
Christian countenance. There was an indefinable 
something about them, a gravity and yet sweetness 
of manner, a containedness and quietness of spirit, 
a restfulness and unearthliness, a far-awayness 
about them that made me feel and know that they 
had a life and experience that I had not; that 
they knew God as I did not, and that a secret of 



OBTAINING THE BLESSING. 1 3 

the Lord had been given to them which had not 
been committed to me. These faces and lives, in 
the absence of sanctified preachers and sermons 
on the subject, kept my faith in the doctrine, in a 
great degree I suppose, from utterly perishing. 
Then there v^ere convictions of my own heart all 
along in regard to what a minister's life should be. 
Only this year, a full month before my sanctifica- 
tion, there was impressed upon me suddenly one 
day such a sense of the holiness and awfulness of 
the office and work that my soul fairly sickened 
under the consciousness of its own short-comings 
and failures, and was made to cry out to God. 
Moreover, visions of an unbroken soul-rest, and a 
constant abiding spiritual power, again and again 
have come up before the mind as a condition pos- 
sible and imperative. A remarkable thing about 
it is that these impressions have steadily come to 
one who has enjoyed the peace of God daily for 
thirteen years. 

At the Sea-shore Camp-ground, in 1888, after 
having preached at 11 o'clock, the writer came 
forward to the altar as a penitent convicted afresh 
under his own sermon, that he was not what he 
should be, nor what God wanted him to be and 
was able to make him. Many will remember the 
day and hour, and the outpouring of the Holy 



14 SANC T I PICA riON. 

Spirit at the time. I see now that my soul was 
reaching out even then, not for the hundredth or 
thousandth blessings (for these I had before ob- 
tained), but what is properly called the second 
blessing. I was even then convicted by the Holy 
Ghost in regard to the presence of inbred sin in a 
justified heart. 

Several months since I instituted a series of re- 
vival services in Carondelet Street Church, with 
the Rev. W. W. Hopper as my helper. At all the 
morning meetings the preacher presented the sub- 
ject of entire sanctification. It was clearly and 
powerfully held up as being obtained instantane- 
ously through consecration and faith. Before I 
received the blessing myself I could not but be 
struck with the presence and power of the Holy 
Ghost. While urging the doctrine one morning 
the preacher received such a baptism of glory that 
for minutes he was helpless ; and while we were 
on our knees supplicating for this instantaneous 
sanctification the Holy Spirit fell here and there 
upon individuals in the assembly, and shouts of 
joy and cries of rapture went up from the kneel- 
ing congregation in a way never to be forgotten. 
The presence of God was felt so overwhelmingly 
and so remarkably that I could not but reason after 
this manner: Here is being presented the doc- 



OBTAINING THE BLESSING. 1 5 

trine of instantaneous sanctification by faith. If 
it were a false doctrine, would God thus manifest 
himself? Would the Holy Ghost descend with ap- 
proving power upon a lie? Does he not invaria- 
bly withdraw his presentee from the preacher and 
people when false doctrine is presented ! But 
here he is manifesting himself in a most remark- 
able manner. The meeting or hour that is devot- 
ed to this one subject is the most wonderful meet- 
ing and hour of all. The service fairly drips with 
unction. Shining faces abound. Christ is seen 
in every countenance. If entire sanctification ob- 
tained instantaneously is a false doctrine, is not the 
Holy Ghost actually misleading the people by 
granting his presence and favor, and showering 
his smiles at the time when this error or false doc- 
trine is up for discussion and exposition ? But 
would the Spirit thus deceive? Irresistibly and 
with growing certainty we were led to see that 
the truth was being presented from the pulpit, and 
that the Holy Ghost, who always honors the truth 
when preached, was falling upon sermon, preacher, 
and people, because it was the truth. And by the 
marvelous and frequent display of his presence 
and power at each and every sanctification -meet- 
ing he was plainly setting to it the seal of his ap- 
proval and indorsement, and declaring unmistak- 



1 6 SANC T I PICA TION. 

ably that the doctrine that engrossed us was of 
heaven and was true. 

One morning a visitor — a man whom I admire 
and tenderly love — made a speech against entire 
sanctification, taking the ground that there was 
nothing but a perfect consecration and growth 
in grace to look for; that there was no sec- 
ond work or blessing to be experienced by the 
child of God. This was about the spirit and bur- 
den of his remarks. At once a chill fell upon the 
service that was noticed then and commented on 
afterward. The visitor was instantly replied to by 
one who had just received the blessing, and as im- 
mediately the presence of God was felt and mani- 
fested. And to the proposition made — that all who 
believed in an instantaneous and entire sanctifica- 
tion would please arise — at once the whole audi- 
ence, with the exception of five or six individuals, 
arose simultaneously. It was during this week 
that the writer commenced seeking the blessing of 
sanctification. According to direction, he laid ev- 
ery thing on the altar — body, soul, reputation, sal- 
ary; indeed, every thing. Feeling at the time jus- 
tified, having peace with God, he could not be 
said to have laid his sins on the altar; for, being 
forgiven at that moment, no sin was in sight. But 
he did this, however: he laid inhrcd sin upon the 



OB TA INING THE BLESSING. 1 7 

altar; a something that had troubled him all the 
days of his converted life — a something that was 
felt to be a disturbing element in his Christian ex- 
perience and life. Who will name this something? 
It is called variously by the appellations of origi- 
nal sin, depravity, remains of sin, roots of bitter- 
ness and unbelief, and by Paul it is termed ''the 
old man;" for, in writing to Christians, he ex- 
horts them to put off "the old man," which was 
corrupt. Very probably there will be a disagree- 
ment about the name, while there is perfect recog- 
nition of the existence of the thing itself. For 
lack of a title that will please all, I call the dark, 
disturbing, warring creature "that something." 
It gives every converted man certain measures of 
inward disturbance and trouble. Mind you, I do 
not say that it compels him to sin, for this "some- 
thing" can be kept in subjection by the regener- 
ated man. But it always brings disturbance, and 
often leads to sin. It is a something that leads to 
hasty speeches, quick tempers, feelings of bitter- 
ness, doubts, suspicions, harsh judgments, love of 
praise, and fear of men. At times there is a mo- 
mentary response to certain temptations that brings 
not merely a sense of discomfort, but a tinge and 
twinge of condemnation. All these may be, and 
are, in turn, conquered by the regenerated man; 



1 8 SAIVC TIFICA T/ON. 

but there is battle, and wounds; and often after 
the battle a certain uncomfortable feeling with- 
in that it was not a perfect victory. It is a 
something that at times makes devotion a weari- 
ness, the Bible to be hastily read instead of de- 
voured, and prayer a formal approach instead of 
a burning interview with God that closes with re- 
luctance. It makes Church-going at times not to 
be a delight, is felt to be a foe to secret and spon- 
taneous giving, causes religious experience to be 
spasmodic, and permits not within the soul a con- 
stant, abiding, and unbroken rest. Rest there is; 
but it is not continuous, unchanging, and perma- 
nent. It is a something that makes true and noble 
men of God, when appearing in the columns of a 
Christian newspaper in controversy, to make a 
strange mistake, and use gall instead of ink, and 
write with a sword instead of a pen. It is a some- 
thing that makes religious assemblies sing with 
great emphasis and feeling: 

^'Prone to rvander. Lord, I feel it." 

It is an echo that is felt to be left in the heart, 
in which linger sounds that ought to die away for- 
ever. It is a thread or cord-hke connection be- 
tween the soul and the world, although the two 
have drifted far apart. It is a middle ground, a 
strange medium upon which Satan can and does 



OBTAINING THE BLESSING. 19 

operate, to the inward distress of the child of God, 
whose heart at the same time is loyal to his Sav- 
iour, and who feels that if he died even then he 
would be saved. 

Now that something I wanted out of me. What 
I desired was not the power of self-restraint (that 
I had already), but a spirit naturally and uncon- 
sciously meek. Not so much a power to keep 
from all sin, but a dcadness to sin. I wanted to be 
able to turn upon sin and the world the eye and 
ear and heart of a dead man. I wanted perfect 
love to God and man, and a perfect rest in my soul 
all the time. This dark ''something," that pre- 
vented this life I laid on the altar, and asked God 
to consume it as by fire. I never asked God once 
at this time for pardon. That I had in my soul 
already. But it was cleansing, sin eradication I 
craved. My prayer was for sanctification. 

After the battle of consecration came the battle of 
faith. Both precede the perfect victory of sancti- 
fication. Vain is consecration without faith to se- 
cure the blessing. Hence men can be perfectly 
consecrated all their lives, and never know the 
blessing of sanctification. I must believe there is 
such a work in order to realize the grace. Here 
were the words of the Lord that proved a founda- 
tion for my faith: "Every devoted thing is most 



20 SA NC TIFICA riON. 

holy unto the Lord." ** The blood of Jesus Christ, 
his Son, cleanseth us from all sin." Still again: 
"The altar sanctifieth the gift." In this last quo- 
tation is a statement of a great fact. The altar is 
greater than the gift; and whatsoever is laid upon 
the altar becomes sanctified or holy. It is the 
altar that does the work. The question arises: 
Who and what is the altar? In Hebrews xiii. 
IO-I2 we are told. Dr. Clarke, in commenting 
upon the passage, says the altar here mentioned is 
Jesus Christ. All who have studied attentively 
the life of our Lord cannot but be impressed with 
the fact that in his wondrous person is seen em- 
braced the priest, the lamb, and the altar. He 
did the whole thing; there was no one to help. 
As the victim he died; as the priest he offered 
himself, and his divine nature was the altar upon 
w^hich the sacrifice was made. The Saviour, then, 
is the Christian's altar. Upon him I lay myseK. 
The altar sanctifies the gift. The blood cleanses 
from all sin, personal and inbred. Can I believe 
that? Will I believe it? My unbelief is certain 
to shut me out of the blessing; my belief as cer- 
tainly shuts me in. The instant we add a perfect 
faith to a perfect consecration the work is done 
and the blessing descends. As Paul says: "We 
w^hich have believed do enter into rest." 



OBTAINING THE BLESSING. 21 

All this happened to the writer. For nearly 
three days he lived in a constant state of faith and 
prayer. He believed God ; he believed the v^ork 
was done before the witness was given. 

On the morning of the third day — may God 
help me to tell it as it occurred ! — the witness was 
given. It was about 9 o'clock in the morning. 
That morning had been spent from daylight in 
meditation and prayer. I was alone in my room 
in the spirit of prayer, in profound peace and love, 
and in the full expectancy of faith, when suddenly 
I felt that the blessing was coming. By some deli- 
cate instinct or intuition of soul I recognized the 
approach and descent of the Holy Ghost. My 
faith arose to meet the blessing. In another min- 
ute I was literally prostrated by the power of God. 
I called out again and again: *'0 my God! my 
God! and glory to God!" while billows of fire 
and glory rolled in upon my soul with steady, in- 
creasing force. The experience was one of fire. 
I recognized it all the while as the baptism of fire. 
I felt that I was being consumed. For several 
minutes I thought I would certainly die. I knew 
it was sanctification. I knew it as though the 
name was written across the face of the blessing 
and upon every wave of glory that rolled in upon 
my soul. 



22 SANCTIFICATION, 

Cannot God witness to purity of heart as he 
does to pardon of sin? Are not his blessings self- 
interpreting? He that impresses a man to preach, 
that moves him unerringly to the selection of texts 
and subjects, that testifies to a man that he is con- 
verted, can he not let a man know when he is 
sanctified? 

I knew I was sanctified just as I knew fifteen 
years before that I was converted. I knew it not 
only because of the work itself in my soul, but 
through the Worker. He, the Holy Ghost, bore 
witness clearly, unmistakably and powerfully, to 
his own work; and, although months have passed 
away since that blessed morning, yet the witness 
of the Holy Spirit to the work has never left me 
for a moment, and is as clear to-day as it was then. 

In succeeding chapters I desire humbly to show 
that the blessing of sanctification may be clearly 
distinguished from other blessings; that it is an 
instantaneous work; that it is obtained by faith 
alone; that the Holy Ghost testifies distinctly and 
peculiarly to the work and life ; that a man thus 
sanctified is under special pressure and command 
to declare the blessing, and that while thus testify- 
ing on all proper occasions that he is sanctified, 
may be humbler in spirit than a Christian who 
^ claims not the blessing. 



OBTAINING THE BLESSING. 23 

These things I desh*e, in all love and tenderness 
and joy, to speak of as matters not of theory, but 
of experience. Especially would I call attention 
to the calm, undisturbed life; the perfect, unbro- 
ken rest of soul that follows the blessing of sancti- 
fication. 



CHAPTER III. 

SANCTIFICATION IS NOT REGENERATION, NOR RE- 
GENERATION EXTENDED OR PERFECTED. 

§ANCTIFICATION is not regeneration. The 
very words teach us that. They are not the 
same, do not mean the same thing, and are not 
used synonymously in the Bible, Hymn Book, 
standards, religious biographies, and testimony of 
Christians. They are felt to represent two differ- 
ent things. Justification means pardon; conver- 
sion, a turning about; regeneration means renova- 
tion, reproduction, entering upon a new life, while 
sanctification means the act of being made holy. 
If regeneration and sanctification mean the same, 
and include the same work, then i Corinthians i. 
30 becomes senseless, and should read thus: "But 
of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made 
unto us regeneration and regeneration and regen- 
eration and regeneration." But the two words 
are different, and refer to different works wrought 
supernaturally in the soul, and so the passage 
reads: **Who of God is made unto us wisdom, 
and righteousness, and sanctification, and re- 
demption." The word ''righteousness" should 
be translated "justification." 
(24) 



SANCTIFICA riON NOT REGENERA TION. 25 
Again, the two words, representing different 
works, follow each other in point of time. To the 
Thessalonians, who were Christians, and pos- 
sessed joy in the Holy Ghost, Paul writes that 
God wanted them to be sanctified. He said the 
same thing, in substance, to the Romans, the Cor- 
inthians, and to the Hebrews. Sanctification, or 
Christian perfection, comes after regeneration. 
The Saviour himself recognized this order, for 
while in the fifteenth chapter of John he tells his 
disciples that they are clean through his word, yet 
a little while after he informs them that they must 
yet be sanctified, which sanctification, we remem- 
ber, took place on Pentecost. 

The Hymn Book observes the same order. 
Open it and read the subjects as divided. First is 
the "Gospel Call," then "Penitential Exercises," 
then "Justification," and then "Sanctification." 
The same order is observed in our theological 
works. Sanctification follows regeneration. 

But clearer and more convincing than all is 
one's own experience. On the twelfth day of 
July, 1874, God converted my soul^ and fifteen 
years afterward, at^ 9 o'clock in the morning of 
June I, 1889, he sanctified my soitl and body. It 
was a different work from the first, and a differ- 
ent experience. My consciousness testified to the 



26 SANCTIFICATIO^. 

fact of the difference, and so did the Holy Ghost. 
The emphasized words above are full of signifi- 
cance. A calm settles upon soul and body. The 
'inward battle and tumult have ended. The flesh 
does not lust against the spirit as formerly, but is 
led by the Spirit and restrained by the Spirit, calm- 
ly and easily and without the fearful strugglings of 
other days. This experience alone gives to sanc- 
tification a peculiarity strikingly different from re- 
generation. 

Again, entire sanctification is not the deepening 
or perfecting or extension of regeneration. Re- 
generation is a perfect work in itself; needs no 
improvement, and is given none. Sanctification 
has no quarrel with regeneration, either in the Bi- 
ble or Christian experience, and is not in antago- 
nism with it in any respect whatever, although 
some would so persuade the people. It aims to 
do another thing, and accomplishes another work 
altogether. It removes something from the soul 
that has been a constant trouble and hinderance to 
the regenerated man. It kills inbred sin; or, as 
Dr. Whedon calls it, the **sinwardness" in us; or, 
as some would recognize it, the **prone-to-wan- 
der feeling." That is the work that sanctification 
does: it removes or kills the ** sinwardness " or 
prone-to-wander movement of the heart. It is 



SANCTIFICATION NOT REGENERATION. 27 

idle to say that regeneration does this, when Chris- 
tians in their experience universally testify to the 
fact that after conversion they still feel the stirrings 
and movement of sin within them. The sanctified 
man tells you that this is not the case with him. 
That dark medium upon which Satan and the 
world operated, to the inward disturbance and un- 
rest of the child of God, is utterly removed or de- 
stroyed. Entire sanctification did that work, and 
can alone do it. My will may be rectified in re- 
generation; but what if sin be something more 
than an act of the will? It certainly seems so 
when we behold it transmitted from Adam down 
to us without the consent of our wills, and exhibit- 
ing itself in children too young to exercise their 
judgment and moral powers. May not sin have 
left part of its life in the tendencies of the body, 
and exist also as a transmitted nature apart from 
my personal sin and guilt? Let Nos. 7 and 20 of 
our Articles of Religion answer. When I am 
born again I stand a regenerate creature in the 
presence of wayward tendencies of the flesh, and 
this dark element called original sin, that has been 
indescribably but certainly sent down from Adam 
to us, and interwoven in our natures. It is not 
long before the young convert finds out its pres- 
ence and power. Why is it there iq a regenerated 



28 SAiVC TIFICA TION, 

life ? Because there is no new birth or renovation 
for original sin. **The carnal mind is enmity 
against God: for it is not subject to the law of 
God, neither indeed can be,'' (Rom. viii. 7.) It 
is hopelessly cursed of God now and forever. It 
has to be removed or destroyed. Spiritual Agags 
have to be hewed to pieces, not changed into 
Israelites. Regeneration renews my soul, imparts 
power to resist and conquer sin; but does not 
rid me of the -presence of depravity in the heart. 
This is done by another and distinct work of the 
Holy Ghost; and that work is entire sanctification. 
This marvelous work is one of removal or destruc- 
tion. Both ideas are taught in the Bible. It is 
called a circumcision — /. ^., a cutting out and off 
of something within our natures. And again, it is 
called a baptism of fire. We all know what fire 
does — that it consumes. Many difficulties may be 
urged by the skeptical; but the experience of the 
sanctified, without exception, is that sin has been 
removed from or destroyed in the heart. This is 
one of the secrets of the deep rest and perfect 
peace that constantly fills the soul of one who has 
received the blessing. 

Let us sum up the thought. We, as Methodists, 
believe in the existence within us of what we call 
in Article VII. original and actual sin. "Origi- 



SANC TIFICA TION NO T REG EN ERA 7^1 ON. 29 

nal sin" refers to the sin of Adam, and "actual 
sin" to our own personal transgressions. In jus- 
tification, which means pardon, my own actual or 
personal sins are forgiven, but not original sin. 
How can I be pardoned for what I did not com- 
mit? How could I ask God to forgive me for what 
I did not do ? And how could God, in truth and juc- 
tice, grant me pardon for what I had not done? 
Justification evidently cannot reach original sin, and 
the conclusion is that T stand a justified man, with 
inherited depravity within me. In regeneration 
the soul is born again, made new, entered upon a 
spiritual life. That personal depravity which arises 
from one's own actual sin is corrected by regener- 
ation; but original sin, or inherited depravity, re- 
mains untouched. Can depravity be regenerated, 
the "old man" in us be converted and made holy? 
Paul, in writing to Christians, did not say make 
the "old man" a new man, but "Put off the old 
man, which is corrtipt,^^ and put on the "new 
man." It is idle to say this was done in regener- 
ation. Sound reasoning is against it, and a uni- 
versal Christian experience. The fact to which 
we are driven is that the regenerated soul is left 
in the presence of an inherited sin or depravity. 

We must also remember that in the spiritual life 
we get what we ask for. We approach a throne 



30 SA NC TIFICA riON. 

of grace praying for pardon and deliverance from 
personal sins and a personal sinful nature. What 
Adam did for us and to us is no more in the mind 
or prayer than something occurring in a distant 
world billions of leagues away. In either case I 
can see how God can regenerate my soul, save me 
from the effects of a personal depravity, or that 
evil I have brought upon, myself by actual sin, and 
yet original sin, or transmitted depravity, remains 
intact within me. This latter sin remains for an- 
other work. To say otherwise is to confound two 
distinct works of the Holy Ghost, regeneration 
and sanctiiication ; or it makes regeneration a par- 
tial or imperfect work, which thought cannot be 
entertained for a moment. Sanctification does not 
go over the work of regeneration, deepening the 
lines and making it more effectual. Sanctification 
is not a second touch upon the same blind eyes, 
but it is a second touch of the Holy Ghost laid upon 
something else altogether. The first touch, regen- 
eration, alters the personal sinful life and nature, 
for which I am accountable; the second touch, 
sanctification, removes the inherited sinful nature, 
for which I am not accountable, but which bur- 
dens and afflicts me not the less. We cannot af- 
ford to throw the slightest imputation upon regen- 
eration; it is a perfect work of God, and does all 



SANC TIFICA TION NO T REG EN ERA T/ON 3 1 

he intended it should do. The expression "re- 
mains of sin," I am confident is misleading, and 
we should discard it unless we are careful to have 
it understood that by it we mean original sin. 

Our hope for a perfect deliverance is in the 
sanctifying grace of God. Not that our depravity 
is sanctified any more than it was regenerated, but 
we are sanctified by the removal or destruction of 
depravity, and by the communication, at the same 
instant, of '''Xho. fullness of the blessing of the gos- 
pel of Christ." 

When that sanctifying work occurs sin dies in 
the heart. Various propensities of the body, 
which regeneration subdued, but could not eradi- 
cate, are instantly corrected, arrested, or extirpat- 
ed. The craving of habit is ended, the root of 
bitterness is extracted, pride is lifeless, self-will is 
crucified, and anger and irritability are dead. In 
a word, inward sin is dead. A sweet, holy calm 
fills the breast, actually affects the body, steals 
into the face, and rules the life. The millennium 
has begun in the soul. 



CHAPTER IV. 

SANCTIFICATION IS NOT A RECOVERY FROM BACK- 
SLIDING. 

fHE supposition of many who have not reahzed 
this grace in the soul is that it is the recovery 
of the first love, or return from a more or less back- 
slidden course. 

The idea is urged again and again, by different 
writers who are opposed to sanctification, that the 
professed possessors of the blessing had really 
drifted through unfaithfulness into a condition of 
darkness, fear, and' even sin; and in looking for a 
second cleansing or sanctification have mistaken 
their recovery, or restoration of religious joy, for 
the blessing of sanctification; and, thus deluded, 
proclaim the fact that they have received the sec- 
ond blessing, when they have only been recovered 
from the life and course of a backslider. 

This is certainly very different from the teaching 
of a famous little volume, called "Christian Per- 
fection," written by one of the most eminently 
pious men that ever lived, which says that entire 
sanctification is preceded by a gradual mortifica- 
tion of sin and ardent aspirations after hoHness; 
(32) 



NOT A R ECO VERT FROM BACKSLIDING. 33 

in a word, by conditions and experiences the op- 
posite of backsliding. 

According to this definition of sanctification, that 
it is nothing but a recovery from backsHding, we 
are necessarily led to infer that the Thessalonians, 
whom Paul so highly commended in his Epistle, 
saying that they were "ensamples" through their 
labor of love, patience of hope, and joy in the 
Holy Ghost, that they were really a set of back- 
sliders. And when he wrote, *'And the very God 
of peace sanctify you wholly," he meant that he 
hoped the God of peace would recover them from 
their present backslidden condition. Truly this 
definition and explanation of entire sanctification, 
or the second blessing, as given by the doubters of 
the work, is enough to make Wesley turn over in 
his grave, and to cause the admirers of Fletcher 
and Carvosso and Clarke and Benson and Mc- 
Kendree to blush for those consecrated men of 
God. 

So, according to this explanation, these holy 
men were backsliders. Who is ready to credit 
this? Who, after reading their lives and their 
own statements and descriptions of the blessing 
of sanctification, can believe such a thing of them? 

Read the ''Life of Fletcher," and see how the 
definition fails to agree with the facts. Open the 
3 



34 SA JVC T/F/CA TION. 

"Life of Carvosso," and see how, after his conver- 
sion, he pressed steadily on, Hving in prayer, and 
never resting until he obtained the blessing of sanc- 
tification. Now turn to Bishop McKendree — he is 
giving his experience: "Not long after m}- conver- 
sion Mr. Gibson preached a sermon on sanctifica^ 
tion, and. I felt its weight. When Mr. Easter came 
he enforced the same doctrine. This led me more 
minutely to examine the emotions of my heart. I 
found remaining corruption, embraced the doc^ 
trine of sanctification, and diligently sought the 
blessing it holds forth. The more I sought it, the 
more I felt the need of it, and the more important 
did that blessing appear. In its pursuit my soul 
grew in grace." Then he goes on to describe 
when and how the blessing of sanctification came 
upon him. Where does the backsliding come in 
here? When did he lose God? On the contrary, 
he tells us that as he sought the blessing his soul 
grew in grace. 

Now let the reader turn to Mr. Wesley's vol- 
ume on "Christian Perfection," and read certain 
paragraphs on pages 37, 61, and 78, and he will 
find that the author calls the blessing a total death 
to sin and an entire renewal in the love and image 
of God obtained instantaneously, received by faith, 
and witnessed to by the Holy Ghost. 



NOT A RECOVERY FROM BACKSLIDING. 35 

In none of these instances can you find any 
thing favoring the idea of a recovery from back- 
sliding. On the contrary, it is represented as a 
sudden uphft and deliverance granted a soul that 
had been previously growing in grace ; that it is a 
second and distinct w^ork done in and for not a 
backslidden, but a consecrated life. 

With great shrinking I mention my own experi- 
ence in the same breath with such superior and 
holy men. But God calls upon me to witness 
here, and by my tongue and pen to protest hum- 
bly, but firmly, against this degrading definition of 
sanctification. God knows that I have not been a 
backslider. He knows that for over twelve years 
the rule of my life, rarely broken, has been never 
to lay my head upon my pillow until I felt a sense 
of acceptance with him ; while every day I have 
felt his peace and presence in my soul. Evidently 
the blessing I received on June i, of last year, was 
not a recovery from backsliding. 



CHAPTER V. 

SANCTIFICATION IS NOT SIMPLY A GREAT BLESSING. 

flO call sanctification simply a great blessing is 
to rob it of its distinctive qualities. It is 
something more than a blessing. It is a blessing 
after a different order. It is a second tuor^ 
wrought in the soul by the Holy Ghost. 

Many people have grown merry over the words 
*' second blessing." They say that they have gone 
much further along in the spiritual numerals ; that 
they have advanced into the hundreds and thou- 
sands. So has the writer. But these blessings 
were all in the regenerated life arising at moments 
of repentance, prayer, submission, and Christian 
work, and touching not the life of which' we are 
writing. There is another blessing so peculiar, so 
distinct, that when a man experiences it, although 
he had felt ten thousand blessings before, he would 
ever after call this one the "second blessing." I 
am afraid that the laughter directed at the expres- 
sion arises from the thoughtlessness of mirth or 
the failure to recognize the real work and life cov- 
ered by the words. It would be well for Method- 
ist preachers, ere they laugh publicly over the ex- 
(36) 



NOT SIMPL7' A GREAT BLESSING. 37 

pression, to turn to the works of the founder of 
our Church, Mr. Wesley, and see how frequently 
and certainly he used it. 

In writing to Mrs. Crosby in 1761 he says: 
** Within five weeks five in our band received the 
second blessing." In 1763 he writes: "This 
morning one found peace and one the second 
blessing." To Miss Jane Hilton, in 1774, he 
writes: "It is exceedingly certain that God did 
give you the second blessing, properly so called. 
He delivered you from the roots of bitterness, from 
inbred sin as well as actual sin." 

Nor is this all. The expression is not simply 
Wesleyan, but you might say scriptural; for Paul 
(in 2 Cor. i. 15) says to the Christians whom he 
is addressing: " I was minded to come unto you 
before, that ye might have a second benefit.^ ^ The 
proper translation of the last word should not be 
"benefit," but "grace;" and is so rendered in the 
marginal reading. The Greek word is cha?'zs, 
which is translated "grace" one hundred and fifty 
times in the New Testament. Thus properly 
translated the verse reads: "I was minded to 
come unto you before, that ye might have a second 
grace,^^ 

The blessing of sanctification is evidently some- 
thing more than a great blessing. As for great 



SS SAjVC ril'ICA TION. 

blessings, all of us have had them who are Chris- 
tians; but not all have had the second blessing, 
for a great blessing is not necessarily the second 
blessing. My beloved brethren in the ministry, 
who differ with me, if you come to glorying in 
great blessings, so will I. Let me become a fool 
in such glorying. Have you had great blessings ? 
So have I. Have you had a number? So have I. 
And yet not one of these was the second blessing. 
Some of them I received in company with minis^ 
ters who read these lines; some in the presence of 
various congregations I have served; and still oth- 
ers alone. And yet not one of these was the sec- 
ond blessing. Certainly it seems that the writer 
might be able to speak intelligently and discrimi- 
natingly when he humbly but firmly asserts that 
there is a second blessing for the child of God, al- 
together different from the multitude of gracious 
experiences that fill and glorify the Christian life. 
The expression *' great blessing," in connection 
with the work of entire sanctification, is mislead- 
ing. The attention of the seeker is thereby di- 
rected to an emotion instead of a w^ork and final 
state. The feeling may be more or less intense, 
according to temperament, condition, and other 
things I might mention. It is not a necessary feat- 
ure of sanctification that a person should be over- 



NOT SIMPLY A GREAT BLESSING. 39 

whelmed. Some may be; but the majority are 
not. It is a purifying and filHng rather than an 
overwhelming, a filling of the soul rather than the 
falling of the body. I grant that some have been 
perfectly prostrated for moments and minutes ; but 
many have not this torrent-like baptism, and yet 
are as soundly sanctified as the other class. Some 
of whom I have read, and some whom I have 
known, in receiving the blessing suddenly became 
conscious of a profound, unearthly, immeasurable 
calm and sweetness of soul. In the very core and 
center and heart of the experience is heard the 
testimony of the Holy Ghost bearing witness to the 
fact that this is sanctification. Thus was it with 
Dr. Clarke, Benson, Carvosso, Lovick Pierce, 
and others. Dr. Pierce said that for minutes he 
felt that he could live without breathing, so unut- 
terable was the calm in his soul. Dr. Thomas C. 
Upham, writing about it, says: ''I was then re- 
deemed by a mighty power, and filled with the 
blessing of perfect love. There was no intellect- 
ual excitement, no marked joys when I reached 
this great rock of practical salvation; but I was 
distinctly conscious when I reached it." 

This is the point I make: that to lay the empha- 
sis upon the emotional feature is misleading. It is 
as unwise here as it is in conversion to demand 



40 SANCTIFICATION. 

certain exalted states as the criterion in such a 
case. The instant we make an overwhelming 
rapture the standard experience, that instant we 
grieve and discourage man}^, and make it difficult, 
if not impossible, for them to secure the longed- 
for blessing. 

The writer cannot but insist that it is not the 
great joy felt at the moment that should constitute 
the after-rejoicing of the sanctified man, but the 
great zuork that was done in him at that time. The 
work is the wonderful thing; the work is the di- 
vine accomplishment to be rejoiced over. It may 
have for its proclaimer a great joy or a great calm 
or peace ; but that is a small matter compared to 
the work itself. The joy will subside, in a meas- 
ure; the peace may have its variations; but the 
work done in sanctification remains. Glory to 
God for the work ! 

Earthly conditions and experiences may beat 
like waves upon you; but, rock-like, the work it- 
self abides, resisting every wave and outliving ev- 
ery storm. People and surroundings may change ; 
failure and disappointment and loss may crowd 
into the life; but there, enthroned in the heart, is 
this perfect love to God and man that changes not, 
an inward calm and rest that never departs, and a 
faith in God that remains unshaken. 



NOT SIM PL 2' A GREAT BLESSING. 4 1 

Yes, sanctification is a great blessing; but the 
greatness is not in the emotions which accompany 
it, but in the work of sanctification itself. And 
while the sanctified man cannot but rejoice in the 
possession of a peace and rest that never leave him, 
yet his deepest joy is in the constant realization of 
the work itself; that he is crucified with Christ; 
that he is dead to the world, and alive to God as 
never before ; that inward sin is dead ; that love 
reigns supreme in the heart, and that Christ abides 
within in a fullness and with a constancy delight- 
ful and amazing. 

If God's people, instead of doubting and deny- 
ing, would humbly and prayerfully seek for sanc- 
tification as they did for conversion, then, in the 
language of the pastoral address of the General 
Conference of 1832, *^'our class-meeting and love- 
feasts would be cheered by the relation of the ex- 
periences of the higher character, as they now are 
with those which tell of justification and the new 
birth." 



CHAPTER VI. 

SANCTIFICATION IS NOT GROWTH IN GRACE. 

T^JERE is where multiplied thousands fall into 
Mp^^ error: they have confounded two separrate 
and distinct things. They have, in insisting that 
holiness and growth in grace were the same, made 
the work of man and the work of God identical. 

It is a very grave error. It is more than grave 
— it is calamitous. So long as the Church sup- 
poses that sanctification is a gradual growth in 
grace, so long will God's people be kept out of 
the blessing of a holy heart- How Satan smiles 
when he sees the Church seeking holiness in a di- 
rection and on a plane where it can never be 
found ! He is not the least alarmed so long as 
God's people look to themselves or to time or to 
growth, or to any thing but the blood of Christ, 
for holiness. While Christians thus wander about, 
he assumes a still easier attitude or position on his 
throne, and continues to smile. 

That entire sanctification is not growth in grace 
appears from several facts or considerations. 

First, the words themselves. They are entirely 
different. One is ag?'as7nos; the other, aiixanetc 
de 671 chariti. This fact alone should convince. 
(42) 



NOT GROWTH IN GRACE. 43 

Again, the meanings of the words are different. 
If they meant the same, why should the Spirit use 
different words. One means holiness; the other 
does not. One refers to a state; the other to a 
growth. One refers to a removal; the other to an 
addition. One signifies a death; the other a life. 
One is an impartation; the other an expansion and 
development. One takes away uncleanness and 
impurity; the other is the growth of purity. One 
refers to a completed work; and the other to an 
indefinite progress. 

And now, lest the last two expressions be mis- 
understood, Ave amplify by saying that the com- 
pleted work referred to is the death of inbred sin 
or depravity, and that the indefinite progress is the 
growing holier all the -days of the sanctified life ; 
that sanctification is purity, but growth in grace is 
the maturing of purity. 

Again, that they are not the same appears from 
Christian testimony. Did you ever hear a Chris- 
tian admit that he had grown into the possession 
of a holy heart? You, my reader, may have been 
growing in grace for twenty, thirty, forty years. 
Have you obtained the blessing of a holy heart yet? 
No ; nor will you ever obtain it that way. Many, 
many times at experience-meetings you have tes- 
tified to listening hundreds that you were grow- 



44 SANCTIFICATION. 

ing in grace, and yet never have you come into the 
possession of hoHness. Has it not occurred to you 
that it is a long road you are traveHng ? You may 
be gray-haired now, and still you do not possess 
what you have been struggling for all your life. 
Does it not occur to you that it would be wise to 
try another route ? You certainly ought to be con- 
vinced by this time that holiness of heart is neither 
growth in grace nor is it to be found by growth in 
grace. 

The other striking fact in connection with the 
thought of Christian testimony is that all the peo- 
ple you have ever heard claim the blessing of holi- 
ness testified that they obtained it instantaneously, 
by faith in the blood of Christ. 

The two testimonies agree. Both in different 
ways affirm — the one negatively, the other posi- 
tively — that sanctification is not growth in grace, 
nor is it obtained by growth in grace. 

The crowning proof that holiness is not growth 
in grace appears from the word of God. The Bi- 
ble establishes the fact by teaching plainly that en- 
tire sanctification is an instantaneous work. It 
also confirms the thought and places it beyond all 
peradventure by a distinct recognition of the two 
works, and by specific commands relative to them. 
No one can read them without being impressed. 



NOT GROWTH IN GRACE. 45 

For when the Bible speaks of the duty of growth 
it turns to man and says, ''Grow in grace; " but 
when it speaks of sanctificatio.n it looks to God, 
and says, "The very God of peace sanctify you 
wholly. . . . Faithful is he that calleth you, 
zvho also will do it.^'' 

My beloved reader, why have you not this bless- 
ing? Have you sought it? or have you spoken and 
written against it? Have you believed or doubted? 

Remember, it is obtained by earnest, humble 
seeking, with consecration of self to God and faith 
in Christ for the blessing. If you have not sought 
for it, and if you do not believe in the attainment 
of it, who wonders that you have not obtained it? 

Christ's words are as applicable to the converted 
man as they are to the man of the world: " If any 
man will do his will, he shall know of the doc- 
trine. '^ 



CHAPTER VII . 

SANCTIFICATION IS A DISTINCT WORK OF GOD. 

IN this chapter some points will not appear that 
would come properly under this head, because 
anticipated, and in a measure discussed, in previ- 
ous chapters. 

Sanctification is a doctrine. It is as much so as 
repentance, faith, and regeneration. The word is 
a distinct word, has a distinct and peculiar mean- 
ing, and refers to something that is not found in 
repentance, faith, or regeneration, and that some- 
thing is holiness. By its position in the Hymn 
Book and theological standards, and by the clear 
way in which it is urged in the Scriptures, we 
cannot but see that sanctification is a doctrine in 
itself, recognized as such by man and taught as 
such by God. 

Let us not fall into the mistake here that repent- 
ance is a distinct thing, and conversion a distinct 
thing, but that sanctification is a hazy, indefinable, 
indefinite, never-to-be-realized state, and thereby 
lose sight of its individuality as a blessing, and 
strip from the Bible one of its grandest doctrines. 
But let us mark how Christians are urged to go on 



A DISTINCT WORK OF GOD. 47 

to it, and to possess it, and see in these repeated 
commands the proof that it is a cardinal truth and 
teaching of the Word of God. 

Sanctification is the work of God. The Bible 
says **the blood cleanses," "the altar [Chriot] 
makes holy," and still again "the God of peace 
sanctify you wholly." In another place Chriot 
prays the Father to "sanctify" his disciples. In 
still other places the expressions used in descrip- 
tion of the blessing of holiness are "the baptism 
of the Holy Ghost," "the anointing and sealing 
of the Holy Ghost," and "the renewing of the 
Holy Ghost." 

There are many others, but these suffice to show 
that while all the persons of the Trinity are cred- 
ited with the work, yet no other being but God is 
recognized as the Agent and Accomplisher. 

Still again, by this constant recognition of God 
in the Bible as the Sanctifier we are shown that 
sanctification is not man's work and that as a 
consequence it cannot be growth in grace, which 
is always made incumbent as a duty upon man. 
Conviction is a work of God in the soul of a sin- 
ner. No man could produce such a result. Re- 
generation is a work of God in the soul of a be- 
lieving penitent. Redemption is the final work of 
God upon the bodies of his slumbering saints ; at 



4o SANC TIFICA TION. 

his voice and through his power they will, come 
forth from the grave in radiant resurrection forms. 
Sanctification, or holiness, is the v/ork of God in 
the soul of a Christian believer. In full view of 
these distinct and separate operations of the power 
of God, Paul says: "Christ is made unto us wis- 
dom, and righteousness, and canctification, and re- 
demption." 

The very position of these words show the sep- 
arateness and distinctiveness of the work. Christ's 
command also substantiates the idea. This com- 
mand to the disciples was to tarry until they ob- 
tained not simply a blessing that would disappear 
in a day, but a work that v/ould transform them 
into totally different men. See Luke xxiv. 49; 
Acts i. 8. 

We could say much on this point, but refrain. 
You who read these lines have felt the convicting 
power of God, and you have experienced the con- 
verting power of God, and 3'ou are later on to feel 
the resurrecting power of God; but have you yet 
felt the sanctifying power of the Almight}'? 

If not, you are a stranger to him at that point. 
And if you will not feel it, then you will pass into 
eternity knowing certainly some of the marvelous 
operations of grace, but not having felt the most 



A DISTINCT WORK OF GOD. 49 

wonderful and blessed work of all that God per- 
forms upon the soul in this earthly life. 

What is this work, and in what respect does it 
differ from regeneration? 

Let me say that many have been taught to be- 
lieve that regeneration does every thing for the 
soul.' My reply to this is that the Bible calls re- 
generation a new birth — says it makes us new 
creatures, but never intimates that it makes us 
holy. It never calls it a baptism of fire. A haf- 
tism of Jire %vould hardly he the ^r of er swaddling- 
clothes for a newborn babe. In striking confirma- 
tion of this, I notice that I never heard a Christian 
liken his conversion to an experience of fire. 
That experience comes later, and belongs to a dif- 
ferent work. 

Some claim that regeneration has done every 
thing for them. Christ's blood, they say, made 
them perfectly pure and holy at conversion, and all 
that is needed now is time for development, and a 
steady growth in grace. 

To this I offer several facts in reply: 

One is that I never heard but one regenerated 

person in my life claim that his heart was perfectly 

pure and holy, and he did it then with a hesitation 

and slowness that was remarkable and painful. 

Another is that if there are a number who make 
4 



50 sajvc t I pica tion. 

this claim, they do it under the supposition that the 
inbred sin of their hearts is only temptation. Great 
is this mistake ! 

Still another fact is that they have evidently 
mixed and confounded passages in the Bible bear- 
ing on the two subjects of regeneration and sancti- 
fication. They have taken verses of Scripture 
that refer exclusively to the sanctified life and 
used them to describe the life of the regenerated. 
One that is often thus twisted is the famous pas- 
sage in Ezekiel: '*Then will I sprinkle clean wa- 
ter upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your 
filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse 
you." This was a promise made to believers, and 
therefore coula not be conversion ! 

Again, if regeneration saves from all filthiness 
of flesh and spirit, and from all idols of heart and 
life, then are regenerated men, like angel visits, 
few and far between ! 

Regeneration is a new birth, a change of mas- 
ters, the implanting of a new life and love, the 
cleansing away of personal sins, and the removal 
of that depravity that results from personal trans- 
gressions, so that the man is a new creature, and 
can say: " Old things have passed away; all things 
have become new." 

But all has not yet been done. Something still 



A DISTINCT WORK OF GOD. 5 1 

is left to be accomplished, as is evidenced by the 
command of Scripture to seek it, tarry for it, go 
on to it, and other like expressions. Moreover, 
the prayers of regenerated people, who are always 
asking for a clean heart, and the desires of regen- 
erated people, who are living in the light and grow- 
ing in grace — both alike point to a something in 
the spiritual life that they have not. The origina- 
tor of this prayer and desire is the Holy Ghost, 
who is urging and drawing on to the higher bless- 
ing — to establishment in holiness. 

To resume, then: sanctification is a work of 
God in the soul, and this is the work: 

First, it is the utter destruction of inbred sin, or 
inherited depravity, in the heart. This sin is called 
by various terms in the Bible and in religious no- 
menclature. *' The body of sin," ''the law of sin 
and death," "the flesh," ''the carnal mind," the 
' ' old man, ' ' and ' ' proneness to sin , ' ' are some of the 
names given to describe the dark principle of evil 
that rules in an unconverted life and that strug- 
gles for mastery in the heart of the regenerated 
Christian. Call it by what name you will, this is 
the thing that is destroyed in sanctification, and 
that is not destroyed in regeneration. Regenera- 
tion gives me power over it; sanctification kills it. 

Second, it is a cleansing and purification. The 



52 SAiVC T I PICA TION. 

instrument is the baptism of fire. Nothing purifies 
hke fire. The baptism of water and all that it 
symbolizes is not equal to the baptism of fire. 

Ask a Christian, after he has felt this work of 
God, if his heart is pure, and there will be no hes- 
itation, no slowness, but with the rapidity of the 
lightning's flash he will say: " Glory to God! I 
am pure. The blood has made me clean." 

Third, it is a filling or fullness of the Spirit, such 
as was never realized before. Then, says the 
Scripture, ''were the disciples ^7/^fl^ with the Hoh^ 
Ghost," as if this experience had not been theirs 
before. They had received the Holy Ghost, Christ 
had breathed the Spirit upon them ; but at their 
sanctification they were filled. Paul, writing to 
the Romans, calls it "the fullness of the blessing." 
God evidently descends in a manner and a meas- 
ure upon the soul in sanctification that he does not 
in any previous work or condition of grace. Christ 
alluded to this in John xiv. 23, when, speaking of 
the blessing, he said: "We will come unto him, 
and make our abode with him." God comes to 
abide in the sanctified heart. 

We cannot linger here, but call attention to the 
order of the divine work — the destruction, the 
purifying, and then the coming of the divine 
Blesser to take complete and final possession ! It 



A DISTINCT WORK OF GOD. 53 

is a proper and necessary order, and an order ob- 
served in all cases, though for explainable causes 
sometimes one may be felt with pre-eminent clear- 
ness and force over the other. 

In my own case I was peculiarly conscious of 
the destruction, as by fire, and the fullness. After 
the recognition of these consciousness took hold 
of the feature of purity, saw and rejoiced that it 
was thej-e, and now after twelve months still sees 
that it is there, and rejoices over it as an unchang- 
ing possession. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

SANCTIFICATION IS AN EXPERIENCE. 

'^^ERE we turn from God's work to consider its 
M^ effect upon man. This effect produces an 
experience. If there were no such distinct work, 
there would be no distinct experience, and the tes- 
timonies of the regenerated man and the man who 
claims sanctification would be the same. There 
would be no sharp dividing line, no distinguishing 
mark and trait by which one could be told from 
another. 

I thank God there is such an experience, and 
thousands of people in the land, representing ev- 
ery disposition and temperament and age and walk 
in life, can and do attest the same fact that there is 
such an experience. 

The writer has known God as a Pardoner, and 
sweet was that knowledge ; and God as his Saviour 
and Comforter, and gracious and blessed have been 
those experiences. But there 'is something better 
still, and that is to know him as one's Sanctifier. 
He that has not seen him in that light, and felt his 
power in that direction, has come short of the 
deepest and most gracious views and experiences 
(.54) 



SANCTIFICATION IS AN EXPERIENCE. 55 

of God, and continuing to live thus must undergo 
a loss that, to the mind, seems irreparable. 

Very briefly we sketch this experience : 

It is an experience of deep spiritual content and 
satisfaction. The old craving and yearning felt 
for something better in the religious life has been 
met and fulfilled in this blessing. The pearl of 
greatest price has been found, the good for which 
it had long sighed. The clean heart, the restful 
heart, long prayed for, has come, and now there 
is an inward spirituafl satisfaction most precious and 
indescribable. 

It is an experience of fullness. There is no af- 
flicting sfense of barrenness or emptiness. Salva- 
tion is felt within. The cup that was often half 
empty, and sometimes seemed altogether empty, is 
now a full cup. The loaves are always on the ta- 
ble of the heart, and there seems to be twelve 
loaves — enough for self, and plenty to spare. A 
delightful fullness pervades the experience. 

It is an experience of peculiar joy. I refer not 
to ecstasies. Great floods of joy come to the re- 
generated and sanctified alike at times. But I 
speak here of the joy of salvation — a sweet, quiet, 
holy joy that nestles in the center of the soul, and 
never leaves. *' Woman," said Christ, "if you 
had asked me I would have given you a blessing 



56 SANCTIFICATION. 

that would have been Hke a well of water, spring- 
ing up continually within you." He spoke of 
sanctification. And the joy I refer to here and 
the water Christ spoke of to the woman mean one 
and the same thing. Truly you cannot better de- 
scribe this joy than by likening it to a fountain or 
well of water springing up within you. 

An experience of joy is one thing; the joy of 
salvation, another. The former comes and goes; 
the latter abides continually. It is this abiding 
joy of salvation that enables the possessor to do 
what seems impossible to many Christians, al- 
though Paul exhorts to this end, and that is to 
** rejoice always." The frequent "praise the 
Lord's" of the sanctified man may appear me- 
chanical and parrot-like to many Christians; but, 
so far from that, these praises and verbal rejoic- 
ings arise as naturally to the lips as the waters of 
an inexhaustible spring gurgle up from its clear 
depths and flow over its pebbly brim. 

The writer praises God this morning for the 
quiet, tender joy of salvation that, like a fountain 
hidden away in the depths of his soul, has been 
flowing for nearly a year. Morning, noon, and 
night; on the street, at home or in the study: in 
company or alone, the jov of salvation — a full sal- 
vation — is always there. The fountain was there 



SANCTIFICATION IS AN EXPERIENCE. 57 

before, 'but choked by the great stone of inbred 
sin. This is now removed, and so, without an ob- 
struction, the spiritual spring flows on and up into 
the heart and voice and face and life. The bless- 
ing promised the Samaritan woman has come. The 
well of water, springing up, keeps the soul from 
thirst, and imparts a freshness and gladness to the 
experience and life that may well be described 
even on earth as '* everlasting life." 

It is an experience of constant and easy victory 
over sin. There are temptations that beat on the 
sanctified heart. Satan tries to come in. He stirs 
up all kinds of adversaries against the soul, both 
fleshly and spiritual. But, to the delight of the 
man enjoying the blessing of sanctification, he 
finds that the old-time painfulness and difficulty of 
the struggle is gone. There is no inward convul- 
sion; no war within, while victory comes swiftly 
and perfectly through the blood of the Lamb. 
Sometimes the conflict is protracted for hours, 
perhaps days ; but, glory to God ! during the en- 
tire tim'e of resistance there is a consciousness of 
perfect ability to stand through Christ, a willing- 
ness to wait patiently on the Lord, and a certainty 
of triumph in the end that is blessed, and 3^et most 
difficult to describe. 

The difference of the spiritual conflicts in the 



58 SANC r I PICA TION. 

regenerated and sanctified lives may be illustrated 
by the difference seen in the battles of the Israel- 
ites fought in the wilderness and those fought in 
the land of Canaan. Their enemies fairly melted 
away before them in the Holy Land. Songs, 
shouts, praises to God and steady advances were 
all that was needed in most cases in Canaan. And 
so in the sanctified life, on account of the perpet- 
ual sprinkling of the blood of Christ on the heart, 
and the constant reliance on the blood by that 
heart, there is a consequence of confidence, bold- 
ness, gladness, songfulness, and aggressiveness 
that is simply irresistible and all-conquering. 

I press an additional feature as a distinguishing 
characteristic of the victory ending the spiritual 
conflicts of the sanctified. And that is, while 
often in the regenerated life the battle ended with 
an experience of inward discomfort and twinges 
of condemnation, such is not the case with the 
sanctified man. With him the conflict begins, con- 
tinues, and ends with a happy consciousness of 
purity and power, with the heart's approval and 
with God's approval. 

It is an experience of glad testifying. Does the 
reader know what it is to wish for a spiritual lamp 
that burns all the while, whose oil never gives out; 
but, being connected with the heavenly olive-trees, 



SANCTIFICA TION IS AN EXPERIENCE. 59 

would be fed continually, and therefore burn 
steadily? Has the reader ever sat still in an expe- 
rience-meeting with a cold heart, and waited until 
sufficiently warmed up by hymn or testimony of 
other people before giving his experience? If so, 
have you not wished for a deeper and more perma- 
nent work of grace ; one that would enable you at 
all times and at any time to arise and give a bright, 
glad testimony about the Saviour's work in your 
soul? 

This, thank God ! is one of the peculiar marks 
of the sanctified life — the power of a constant, 
glad testifying. Hundreds of times the writer has 
been impressed with this attribute, or character- 
istic, of the sanctified. They don't wait to be 
warmed up — don't have to wait — for the full salva- 
tion is in them. There is no harp-hanging on wil- 
low-trees, no lamentation over inward sins and 
corruptions, no deploring over or confessing to a 
proneness to depart from God. There is a pota- 
ble absence of all this in the testimony of a sanc- 
tified man, but, instead, the gladness, the precious- 
ness, and the blessedness of a full and present 
salvation gives a ring to the voice, a freshness to 
the experience, a light to the face, and a triumph to 
the soul that is evident to all, and profoundly im- 
presses all that hear. 



6o SANC TIFICA riON. 

It is an experience of perfect submission to God. 
After the full surrender of the will to God in the 
act of consecration, and after the fall of the sanc- 
tifying fire, that will becomes harmonized and 
sweetly accordant with that of God. No reluc- 
tance now to do God's will — no struggle to do it — 
but an instant yielding and a quick flying to do 
the divine behest the moment that the command or 
desire is revealed 

It is an experience of natural meekness. My 
meaning is that the meekness of the sanctified man 
is not the result of a strong restraint upon the feel- 
ings, but is a genuine quietness and long-suffering 
of spirit as natural as breathing. Sanctification 
has taken out that spiritual gunpowder that ignited 
and exploded under the spark of provocation, and 
now there is both deliverance from sudden out- 
bursts and from the smoldering fire of resentment 
as well. The faculty or disposition that respond- 
ed angrily to insult is dead. The swelling throat, 
mounting color, shaking voice, choking speech, 
and prickly, nettled feeling, spreading up from the 
spirit into the body itself, are things of the past. 
A great meekness that can endure long and be 
kind has settled upon the man and keeps him calm 
and unresentful. 

It is an experience of purit}^ Here is some- 



SANCTIFICATION IS AN EXPERIENCE. 6 1 

thing that has to be felt to be understood. Many 
are skeptical in regard to it as a distinct experi- 
e-nce. Happy in the sense of pardon, acceptance 
with God, and cleansing from personal guilt, they 
insist this is all. But it is not all, as the craving 
of their hearts often declare, and as the convert- 
ing Spirit of God endeavors to impress upon them. 
There is an experience of purity as clearly distinct 
from the experience of pardon as one individual 
life is different from another. In all the fluctua- 
tions of mere emotion this delightful sense and con- 
sciousness of purity remains. The Holy Ghost 
constantly bears witness to his own work, saying, 
continuously and momentarily, ** Child, you are 
clean;" while the soul, with a vision of its own, 
and with cognitions peculiar to itself, recognizes 
the work and the fact of purity as one would rec- 
ognize the white-robed majesty of Mont Blanc 
towering before him. " Blessed are the pure in 
heart," said the Saviour. So there niust be such 
a state. He that has it not will not claim it; his 
tongue will cleave to the roof of his mouth, he will 
stammer and hesitate and commentate and circum- 
navigate when asked: *'Are you pure?" O it is 
hard to testify to a condition or possession to which 
the Holy Ghost has never borne witness. But 
when he speaks — then you can speak, and how 



62 SAJVC T I PICA TION. 

gladly and exultantly you will testify even in the 
midst of lowering and unbelieving faces that the 
blood has made you pure ! 

It is an experience of faith. By this I mean 
you find yourself believing, as it were, naturally. 
Where you formerly doubted, you now trust. 
Sanctification seems to place faith in the heart as 
a fixed state, and in the hand as a never-idle weap- 
on. Faith becomes not a fitful exertion, but the 
attitude and movement of the soul. It becomes 
an experience. You can walk in it, live in it, in 
the midst of most trying circumstances, conscious- 
ly sustained by it, as once in the regenerated life 
you were upheld by delightful experiences. 

It is an experience of perfect love. The love 
that follows the blessing of sanctification is perfect 
in that all anger and bitterness and unkindness of 
spirit is ejected. You can now love your enemies, 
bless them that curse you, and not only do kindly, 
but feel kindly to those that despise and injure 
you. It is perfect in that no amount of opposition 
or persecution can embitter you, and, still more 
remarkable, that, no matter what maybe the prov- 
ocation, you are not conscious of an inward strug- 
gle with a spirit of wrath or hate before arriving at 
the point of pardon and love. Thank God that 
sanctification brings a love that can suffer long 



SANCTIFICATION IS AN EXPERIENCE, 63 

and still be kind; that can look across the table 
and see a man who is trying to injure you, and yet 
even, as Christ did, reach over to him and hand 
him a sop of kindness ! 

It is an experience of unbroken inward rest. 
There is no feature of the sanctified life more 
marked than this. As you first become conscious 
of it, you hardly realize what a blessed treasure 
you have. But as days and weeks and months 
glide by, and it still remains, then the understand- 
ing begins to take in with a deeper appreciation 
the blessedness of the sanctified life. 

To your surprise and delight you discover that 
this rest goes with you as the pillar of fire did with 
the Israelites. When you go forth, it is with you; 
when you stop, it is with you. In company, in. 
solitude, in the night, in the early morning, at the 
desk, in the midst of a Babel of voices — there is 
this rest always abiding within. Like your shadow 
it goes with you — only it is any thing but a shadow. 

The reader will remember that one of Christ's 
great promises to his people is rest. "I will give 
you rest! " 

Often in the alternations and fluctuations of my 
regenerated life I have wondered if this was what 
Christ referred to, if this was all that he could do 
and give. 



64 SANC T I PICA TION. 

Thank God, I have found that I had done him 
great wrong; that he can give unbroken rest, and 
that, when he gives it, he does not propose to take 
the gift away. And to all who come as he directs 
will he give, as a second blessing, a rest that noth- 
ing can destroy ! 

But, asks one, are there no experiences of sor- 
row? Is no trouble felt? Do temptations and be- 
reavements cease to affect you? 

My reply is that sanctification does not destroy 
a single susceptibility or sensibility of the human 
nature God made. It only destroys sin. This be- 
ing so, the sanctified man will weep as Christ wept, 
and groan as Christ did over certain things. There 
are times when he will say with his Lord, '*My 
soul is exceeding sorrowful; " and the kiss of the 
betrayer will pierce like an arrow. And yet, mar- 
velous and blessed to relate, the holy calm, that 
unbroken rest, still abides in the heart. 

Did you ever see it raining and the sun shining 
at the same time ? 

'* Behold, I show you a myster}-." And yet not 
a myster}^ unsolvable. For the Greek word *' mys- 
tery" means **a secret that is to be revealed." 
May you come into this secret speedily ! Christ 
died to bring you within the veil, into the secret 
place. 



SANCTIFICATION IS AN EXPERIENCE 65 

You will remember that I likened the joy of sal- 
vation to a fountain springing up within the heart. 
Now, over this fountain bend the balmy atmos- 
phere and tranquil light of a deep spiritual rest. 
Then let a rain-fall of sorrow descend like a 
shower through the light upon the face of the 
fountain. Now, what is the result? I have seen 
the answer in nature, and possess it daily in my 
soul. 

Here it is. The rain-fall does not stop the flow- 
ing of the fountain, nor quench the light, nor de- 
stro}^ the balminess of the air. Then after a little 
the falling drops cease, the cloud passes away, but 
the fountain and the light and the atmosphere re- 
main, and remain, as they had been all along, un- 
disturbed and unchanged. 

There are two things in nature that, in a meas- 
ure, describe the rest of sanctification. They 
came to me in answer to the question of my mind: 
How much will the unrest of this world affect 
the rest of a sanctified soul? There will be some 
natural movement through and upon the sensibil- 
ities; but how deep will it go? 

At once I obtained the answer on the sight of a 
tree caught in the grasp of the wind. I noticed 
that the top waved, but the trunk and roots were 
steady and still ! 



66 SAJVC T I PICA TION. 

Again, I thought of a body of water, whose sur- 
face may be agitated by the winds, but whose 
soundless depths are unmoved! The quiet, the 
stillness, the rest of untouched depths lay in un- 
ruffled tranquillity far beneath. 

There will be no gusty exhibition of grief, no 
boisterous outflow of a natural sorrow in the life 
of the sanctified. The unbroken calm and rest, 
deep within, will steal into the face, affect the voice, 
tranquilize the life, and, even in the midst of fall- 
ing tears, enable him to say, with the light of 
heaven in the countenance: **It is the Lord; let 
him do whatsoever seemeth him good." 

The Christian world knows well the severe trials 
that fell like a storm upon the Saviour the last 
night of his life. The light of the next morning 
revealed their effect upon flesh and blood in the 
pale, haggard, suffering countenance ; but, blessed 
be God, the calm and peace of an indwelling holi- 
ness was still there I Nothing could destroy the 
soul-rest of Christ. It remained unbroken through 
a life and death unparalleled for suffering. 

This rest he offers Christian believers. It is the 
rest of a heart made holy by his blood and kept 
pure by his constant indwelHng. He that obtains it 
will And that he has Christ's own peace, the rest 
of purity and holiness which nothing can destroy. 



CHAPTER IX. 

SANCTIFICATION IS A LIFE. 

/gSERTAINLY such experiences as those just 
v2/ mentioned in the preceding chapter should 
constitute a pecuhar hfe; and they do. 

Some make the point that all these spiritual 
fruits are beheld in the regenerated life, only there 
is a conscious element of conflict or unrest and an 
evident fluctuation of experience. 

Here is seen the distinguishing mark and blessed 
feature of sanctification, that the discordant, con- 
flicting element is gone, and the fluctuating, alter- 
nating experience gives way to the calm, even, 
steady, restful life. 

The sanctified life should be recognized by be- 
ing a quieter, gentler, and more loving life ; by a 
holy zeal and activity in the service of God, and 
by a spirit of rejoicing, prayerfulness, and perfect 
fearlessness of man. 

Some, however, will fail to connect these signs 
with a second work of God. They will call it a 
regenerated life, manifesting itself in a man of ar- 
dent temperament. 

This leads us to say that the crowning joy and 

(07) 



68 s^ I NC TIFICA TION. 

glory of sanctiiication is that it is an interior 
life. It is not to be recognized by outward ecsta- 
sies and miraculous attributes, but is best known 
by its possessor by the perfect love and purity and 
rest within, that nothing is able to destroy. 

Christ remarkably describes this peculiar life of 
sanctiiication that is doubted by those who have it 
not, and yet rejoices and sustains its possessor, in 
Revelation ii. 17: ''To him that overcometh will 
I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give 
him a white stone, and in the stone a new name 
written, which no man knoweth saving he that re- 
ceiveth it." 

The white stone is purit}^ Christ will have a 
new name to you, the Sanctifier. The Sanctifier 
will be in that pure heart of yours. '' But no man 
will know it saving he that received it" — y\z.^ the 
sanctified. You will be doubted by all who have 
not received this white stone and new name. But 
you will know it, and those who have received it 
will know it. 

Now comes the crowning description in the 
verse. For while men w^ho have not the blessing 
do not recognize that you possess it, yet you have 
it for all that, and go on *' eating the hidden man- 
na! " That is, in spite of all doubt and remark, 
you will find joy and nourishment, and support and 



SANC TIFICA TION IS A LIFE. 69 

life, in the hidden, unrecognized blessing which 
you possess. 

Many times has the writer beheld all this in act- 
ual life. 

Once at a certain Conference a brother possess- 
ing this ''secret of the Lord" was bitterly as- 
sailed upon the floor for preaching heresy. One 
member in his presence said that he would rather 
have Satan preach to his congregation than this 
sanctified brother. The attacked man made no 
reply, but seemed the calmest person in the Con- 
ference, and was. Long afterward he spoke of 
the perfect peace that filled him at the time. He 
was doubted, the white stone was unrecognized, 
but nevertheless his soul was kept feasting on 
hidden manna. 

Several months ago the writer was accosted and 
detained by a Church-member, who was in a high- 
ly wrought-up condition of mind. The occasion 
of the brother's excitement was the writer's advo- 
cacy of the doctrine of sanctification. For an 
hour he had to listen to a loud-toned tirade and 
abuse of the doctrine and those who professed it, 
coupled with severe personal criticism and con- 
demnation, such as he never heard equaled on 
any previoi^s occasion. 

And yet the hour in some respects was to the 



yo SANC T I PICA TION. 

writer one of the most precious and blessed of his 
religious life. For through the whole scene he was 
kept in perfect peace. He was hid from the strife 
of tongues in the secret of God's presence. There 
was no movement of resentment in his heart, but 
a constant praise to God ascended from the soul 
for the sustaining power of the experience that 
was being denied in his hearing. The truth of 
sanctification was vindicated and proved to him 
afresh through the instrumentality of a trying ex- 
perience. In other words, although his possession 
of the white stone and the new name was doubted, 
yet, nevertheless, he had them, and his soul was 
kept feasting on hidden manna before the very 
eyes of the doubter and opposer. 

*^Thou preparest a table before me in the pres- 
ence of mine enemies." 

Like Samson, the writer gathered sweetness out 
of the carcass of a circumstance, and went along 
the road eating honey. 

Yes, blessed be God! sanctification is an expe- 
rience and a life. The Lord told the disciples to 
tarry in Jerusalem until they obtained it. May we 
all seek it! God desires us to have it, for the 
Scripture says: *'This is the will of God, even 
your sanctification." 



CHAPTER X. 

SANCTIFICATION IS AN INSTANTANEOUS WORK OR 
BLESSING. 

'si^^E are not simply led, but driven to this con- 
clusion. Sanctification certainly does not 
take place in eternity. Vain is the hope of purga- 
torial fires. Here on earth is the time and place 
of probation; here the Spirit strives and purifies, 
and here is the blood applied. There remaineth 
no more sacrifice for sin beyond the grave. The 
w^riter stood once in the Mechanics' Hall of the 
World's Exposition. Hundreds of workmen were 
busy in the midst of flying wheels and cutting 
saws, and all manner of instruments, in making 
and shaping different kinds of vessels. Suddenly 
the 6 o'clock bell sounded, and at once every 
wheel stopped, and saws became motionless, and 
all instruments were laid aside. The workmen 
put off their working garments and left the build- 
ing. The hall was closed and given up to silence 
and darkness; and I noticed fhat whatever was 
unfinished at the 6 o'clock bell remained unfin- 
ished. The complete was left complete, but the 
unfinished remained an uncompleted, imperfect 

r7n 



72 SANC TIFICA TION. 

thing. It was a solemn illustration to me of spirit- 
ual things. So, I thought, are we being operated 
on by the instruments of God's grace. He is tr}^- 
ing in life to perfect us, to make us holy. But the 
time is coming when life shall end, probation will 
be over forever, and eternity begin. The knell of 
death will be the signal; and when that happens, 
the Spirit and the blood and the Word will be re- 
moved, the divine Worker will withdraw, and the 
door will be shut. Then it shall come to pass that 
whatsoever is incomplete shall remain incomplete. 
The imperfect shall abide in imperfection. 

The Scripture settles this question in Revelation 
xxii. II. God is looking into the world of spirits 
in eternity after the work of life is over, and here 
is what he says : ''He that is unjust, let him be un- 
just still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy 
still." 

Again, sanctification cannot take place through 
death. If we say that death makes the soul holy, 
then do we ascribe a powder to it that the Scripture 
only attributes to the blood of Christ. This would 
make death our Saviour, and so rob the Son of 
God of his glory. Indeed, if we wait for death to 
purify us, we make it even greater than the Sav- 
iour; for in that we have postponed the obtaining 
of holiness until the hour of dissolution we have 



AjV /.ys tantaneo us work or bl essing. 7 3 

thereby declared that we looked to death to do 
what Christ could not and had not done for us. 

Let us bear in mind that there is nothing in 
death to purify. It is not an entity, nor a creature, 
with intellect and force, but a simple dissolution of 
soul and body; a mere ceasing to live is called 
death. What is there in a negative state like this 
to purify the soul? The Bible settles this second 
point by two unmistakable verses. The first is in 
Ecclesiastes xi. 3 : * ' If the tree fall toward the 
south, or toward the north, in the place where the 
tree falleth, there it shall be." Look out, my 
brother; God says as you fall in death so shall 
you lie forever. Death will simply crystallize 
your character. 

The other verse that teaches that holiness is to 
come in life, and not in or through death, is found 
in Luke i. 73-75: *'The oath that he swear to our 
father Abraham, that we might serve him without 
fear, in holiness and righteousness all the days of 
our life^ 

It is evident from reason and from the plain 
word of God that we can look for sanctification or 
holiness in this life. Now comes the question: 
"At what time of life?" Will anyone say not till 
old age? Where in the Bible are the young ex- 
cused from holiness? Will any one say after a 



74 SAXC TIFICA riON. 

number of years we may expect it? Show me a 
passage where God's word teaches such a thing I 
Will any one postpone the blessing of a holy heart 
even until to-morrow, or to any time in the imme- 
diate future? Show me a verse where God com- 
mands us to be holy to-morrow ! Point out the 
passage where he says next week or next year we 
must be holy. 

Does any one say w^e will come into it gradual- 
ly? My reply is: **Show me the verse in Script- 
ure that we are sanctified or made holy gradually. 
At once you quote the verses, ''Grow in grace" 
and ''The path of the just is as the shining light 
that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." 
But neither of these passages refer to sanctifica- 
tion. The expression "perfect day," Dr. Clarke 
says means the " endless felicity of heaven." The 
words "grow in grace" bear not the slightest al- 
lusion to the work of sanctification. As we have 
previously shown, the words are different, have 
different meanings, and refer to different works. 
Consecration and growth in grace are man's 
work, but sanctification is the work of Almighty 
God. Men consecrate graduall}^ and grow in 
grace gradually; but when God regenerates or 
sanctifies the soul he does it instantaneoush'. 

Let us sum up the foregoing points: If sancti- 



AN INS TAN TAN EG US WORK OR BLESSING. 75 

fication cannot take place in eternity, nor at death, 
nOr is to be deferred to old age, or to a year hence, 
or even until to-morrow, then are we driven to the 
conclusion that it is to be had at any moment, and 
that moment may be now. Several facts confirm 
us in this conclusion. 

First, the necessities of the case. The very un- 
certainty of life teaches me that the work should 
be quickly done. To-morrow I may be gone; the 
next hour may find me dead — nay, the next min- 
ute may witness my soul flying from the body to 
the God who gave it. If the blessing of sanctifi- 
cation be a gradual work, then would we be un- 
done. 

Second, our knowledge of the power of God 
prepares us for the instantaneous blessing. Is any 
thing too hard for the Lord? He speaks, and it is 
done. He that converts a soul in a second, can 
he not sanctify in a second? Look at it, reader; 
if God can take a perfect giant of sin and make 
him a babe in Christ in a moment, can he not take 
a babe in Christ and make him a perfect man in 
Christ Jesus in a moment? If God can instanta- 
neously make a spiritual man out of a sinner, he 
can, with even greater ease, make a holy man out 
of a Christian. 

A third argument for the instantaneous nature of 



76 SANC T I PICA TION. 

sanctification is found in the will of God. The 
Scripture says: *'This is the will of God, even 
your sanctification." Will any one dare to say 
that God wills our sanctification or holiness some 
time in the future, and not to-day? The one con- 
clusion to which the mind is irresistibly drawn 
from this last thought is that the present moment 
is the time for sanctification. 

A fourth fact or argument for the instantaneous 
nature of this blessing is found in the glory of 
God. It is not to God's honor that the hearts of 
his people should be defiled or unholy a single 
second of time. But the sooner that soul purity 
is obtained and lived naturally and necessarily 
will God be that much more glorified in a man 
who reflects the divine Spirit and image in every 
thought, emotion, speech, and action of life. 

Still another argument we urge to prove that 
sanctification is the work of a moment is found in 
the tense in which the commands for our sanctifi- 
cation or holiness is presented. Study these 
commands, and you will find they are all in the 
present tense, or couched in forms to show an in- 
stantaneous work, *'Be ye holy" is an unmis- 
takable injunction for a present state and life. 
The passage in Hebrews, *'Let us go on to per- 
fection," that at first seems to suggest a gradual 



AN INSTANTANEOUS WORK OR BLESSING. 77 

work, teaches a definite and distinct state to be 
obtained, while the verb conveys the idea of being 
ho7'ne on immediately into the blessing. 

The final proof is the statement of God's word. 
Read Malachi iii. i: "The Lord, whom ye seek, 
shall suddenly come to his temple." Who is his 
temple? Paul answers: *'Ye are his temple." 
So has it ever been with those who received this 
unspeakable blessing; it came suddenly, not grad- 
ually. 

Now turn to 2 Corinthians vi. 2. God in this 
passage forever settles the question by telling us 
what is his time. The verse reads: ^'JVozv is the 
accepted time; behold, now is the day of salva- 
tion." 

This removes all doubt, for is it possible that 
God is willing to pardon me now, and not willing 
to make me holy now? Does he desire a single 
sin to remain in us a moment? Is he not willing 
to give his people a full salvation the instant they 
will accept it? The book answers: *' Behold, now 
is God's accepted time; behold, now is the day of 
salvation." 



CHAPTER XL 

SANCTIFICATION IS OBTAINED BY FAITH. 

MO man can create by any energy or power of 
his own a "pure heart." When David want- 
ed that he looked up. No man can evolve out of 
himself as beautiful and heavenly and blessed a 
thing as holiness. If he could do so, he would 
perform a greater work than Christ. 

It is granted by all that Christ pardons. But 
if a man can, by certain duties and religious per- 
formances, produce holiness of heart, he has out- 
stripped Christ, for a holy man must certainly take 
rank over a simply pardoned man, both on earth 
and in heaven. 

This being so, you would be entitled to greater 
praise and honor in heaven than the Son of God. 
The song you would sing about the throne would 
be: "He pardoned me, but I made myself holy. 
Christ Jesus is made unto me wisdom and right- 
eousness, but I am made unto myself sanctifica- 
tion." 

See to what an absurdity of conclusion we are 

brought by starting out with the idea that holiness 

is obtained by the works of the law. "O foohsh 
(78) 



SAjVC TIFICA 7 'ION OB TA I NED B T FAITH. 79 

Galatians, who hath bewitched you?" '* Having 
begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by 
the flesh?" 

The writer has just been informed of a still 
more flagrant error. It was advanced from the 
pulpit by one of the leading ministers in our 
Church. He said that holiness was obtained by 
ineditation! The verse he quoted to prove his 
statement was Proverbs xxiii. 7: "As he thinketh 
in his heart, so is he." Let the reader turn to the 
verse and read it in its connection, and then stand 
amazed at such an exposition and application of 
Scripture. 

The brother's idea is not far from the East India 

. conception of holiness. The pagan devotee sits 

down, crosses his feet, fixes his eyes upon them 

until they get crossed, falls into a brown study, and 

waits for holiness. 

Certainly that man knows nothing of the Bible 
and nothing of the truly religious life if he has 
not discovered that all spiritual blessings come by 
pure faith. 

It is through faith we are converted. It is 
through faith we have received ten thousand par- 
dons and consolations and deliverances since that 
day. And it is through faith we come into the 
blessing and enjoyment of sanctification» 



8o SA NC T I PICA TION. 

In proof we quote only three passages from the 
word of God. The first is Galatians iii. 2, 3, 11, 
and 14: *'This only would I learn of you, Re- 
ceived ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or 
by the hearing of faith?" *'Are ye so foolish? 
having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made 
perfect by the flesh?" '*For the just shall 
live by faith." *'That the blessing of Abraham 
might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; 
that we might receive the promise of the Spirit 
through faith." The whole passage is overwhelm- 
ing. But I call attention mainly to the last line. 
What is this promise of the Spirit that was to be 
had through faith but the blessing of sanctification 
which Christ told his disciples to tarry for at Jeru- 
salem? ** Wait," he said, ''for the promise of the 
Father." The second chapter of Acts tells us that 
they obtained it; and it came through faith. 

Take another passage — this time in Acts xv. 8, 
9: **And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare 
them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as 
he did unto us ; and put no difference between us 
and them, purifying their hearts by faith.'' ^ Now 
mark you, these italicised words were spoken of 
believers. This purification was a work subse- 
quent to regeneration. It is identified with the 
blessing of Pentecost, and it was obtained by faith ! 



SANC TIFICA TION OB TAIN ED B T FAITH. 8 1 

One more, and we conclude this point. Acts 
xxvi. 17, 18: "Unto whom now I send thee, to 
open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to 
Hght, and from the power of Satan unto God, that 
they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inherit- 
ance among them which are sanctified by faith that 
is in me." 

Reader, do you realize that this is Christ speak- 
ing to Paul ; that it is Christ who presents here 
two classes in the spiritual life, the forgiven and 
the sanctified, and that he divides them clearly, 
not only by terms, but by the word **and," which 
we have italicised. And do you notice that he 
says that this second class had been sanctified by 
faith in him? This verse, to my mind, is unan- 
swerable. 

If, as I have shown by God's word, the blessing 
of a holy heart can be secured instantaneously, 
and is to be obtained through faith, why not have 
the pearl of great price right now? Why not be- 
lieve and be filled now with all*' the fullness of 
the blessing of the gospel of Christ?" 

6 \ 



CHAPTER XII. 

SANCTIFICATION IS A STATE OR CONDITION WIT- 
NESSED TO BY THE HOLY GHOST. 

MAD you thought that the Holy Ghost witnesses 
to every state in the spiritual life ? Every sin- 
ner that lives has the witness of condemnation. 
The Spirit bears witness with his spirit that he is a 
child of sin and Satan, and on the road to everlast- 
ing death. 

Moreover, the Spirit bears witness to grades of 
sinful life and character. The Holy Ghost has 
long ago told the wicked man how corrupt and 
perverse and abandoned he was, and how he was 
surpassing others in iniquit}- . 

Likewise the Holy Ghost bore witness to your 
conversion. He declared to you, indescribablv, 
that you were a child of God, pardoned of your 
sins and washed from your personal guilt and 
transgressions. 

Again, he brought from the Trinity your call to 

preach, and bore witness to it. And on a certain 

occasion of the past, after you had been agonizing 

in prayer for days respecting the salvation of some 

(82) 



WITNESSED TO B T THE HOL 7' GHOS T. 83 

dear one, he bore witness to your spirit that the 
prayer was heard, and that the answer would come 
in due time. Do you remember how you arose in- 
stantly from your knees without another doubt, and 
how silly your confidence seemed to outsiders and 
how precious to yourself? 

Moreover, the Spirit has borne wdtness to your 
spirit of inbred sin, convicting you afresh, as he 
did Isaiah, of inward uncleanness. You have felt 
it on sudden calls of responsible religious duty, 
unexpected calls to preach or to pray with the dy- 
ing or to direct a penitent sinner to Christ, or you 
have been made powerfully to feel it under a ser- 
mon on holiness, or when you were a very sick 
man with little hope of recovery. These are the 
favorite times of the Spirit to tell the Christian he 
has something wrong in him. 

Finally, when you fully and forever consecrated 
yourself to God and trusted Christ for sanctifica- 
tion the Holy Ghost bore witness to the blessed 
work done in the soul. 

The fact that you cannot grasp now or under- 
stand this witness does not affect or alter the mat- 
ter a particle. A man of the world cannot compre- 
hend the Spirit's witness to conversion ; a Christian 
layman cannot take in the Spirit's call to the min- 
istry, and a regenerated man cannot realize how 



b4 SA NC TIFICA TION. 

the Holy Ghost can witness to any state or experi- 
ence different from the one he enjoys. 

I certainly cannot be expected to know how a 
place looks until I see it. Do you remember your 
disappointment and surprises on this line? Nor 
can I know a book until I read it, nor have a satis- 
factory idea how certain fruit tastes until I eat it. 
A blind man has no conception of colors, and, 
though you may pile description upon description 
of this world, he has a most confused and incorrect 
notion of what nature is, and if his sight is restored 
is amazed at what he beholds. 

It is exactly so in the spiritual life : the things of 
God have to be experienced in order to be under- 
stood. And this law prevails in all the ascending 
and successive steps of religious experience. The 
higher experience yet to come is like an undiscov- 
ered land to me until I go through. Of necessity 
it is a mystery until my experience of the grace 
solves and clears it up. I may even believe there is 
such a grace and witness ; but until that grace has 
become mine, and I have heard the Spirit saying 
to my heart ''Child, you are clean," how can I 
speak intelligently and explain the work and word 
satisfactorily to others? There may be a road 
leading to a distant city; but until I have traveled 
that road, and in a sense made it mine, it is bound 



WITNESSED TO BT THE HOL r. GHOS T. '^'S 

to be an unknown thoroughfare to me. But, mark 
you, although strange to me it may be thoroughly 
known to others. 

Hence it is that the scoff and denial of the expe- 
rience and witness of sanctification comes with a 
poor grace from one who confesses that he has 
never sought or obtained the blessing. This is 
tantamount to saying that he does not believe in the 
existence of London because he has never been 
there, or he doubts that Jenny Lind had a voice 
because he never heard her sing; or, closer still, 
that he heard her sing one song, but does not be- 
lieve that she ever sung another song in a different 
key. 

The denial of the witness of sanctification when 
sifted down merely means that the brother who de- 
nies it has simply never had the witness himself. 
He thinks that the Spirit has but one song for the 
soul, and speaks in one key, and testifies to but one 
fact. 

Such a man denies the existence of a sensation 
or emotion or experience because he has never had 
his intellect or sensibilities stirred in that direction. 
He demands to understand a thing before comply- 
ing with conditions the observance of which alone 
can bring one into the knowledge and experience 
of the thing itself. 



bJ SAjVC TIFICA TION. 

Such a principle adopted and applied in life 
would stop every wheel, revolutionize and reverse 
the working of the greatest laws in the kingdom of 
nature and grace. 

Suppose an unconverted man should say to a 
Christian : " I do not believe that the Spirit of God 
witnesses to your pardon; I can't understand it, 
have never felt it myself, and don't believe a word of 
it." What, think you, would be the feeling of that 
regenerated man? Would there not be a half-sad, 
half-amused stirring of the heart? Do you think 
he would agree with the unconverted man, and 
give up his experience because of the ignorance of 
the other? And what would he reply? He would 
unquestionably say that he doubteti not that his 
unbelieving friend was sincere, and that to him 
there was no witness of pardon ; but that neverthe- 
less there was such an experience, and it would 
come to all who complied with the conditions laid 
down in the Bible of repentance and faith. 

So, the skeptical smile and word turned on the 
man enjoying the blessing of sanctification does 
not in the leastwise disconcert him or cause him to 
doubt the experience of purity and the voice of the 
Spirit declaring the fact to him continuall3\ Nor 
is he pvizzled to understand the secret of the unbe- 
lief of his brother in reijard to* the witness and the 



IV/ TNESSED TO B r THE HOL T GHOS T. 87 

life of sanctification. He knows that the blessing 
simply has not come to him ; that the voice of the 
Holy Ghost that has said many blessed things to 
him has not yet uttered the thrilling words, " Child, 
you are clean ; I have made your heart pure ; I 
have sanctified you wholly; " and he knows that 
• when the conditions of a perfect consecration and 
a perfect faith are complied with then will the ex- 
perience be set up, and the witness come, and not 
till then. 

My beloved reader, let me ask: Shall the Holy 
Spirit be kept to one string on the golden harp of 
redemption, confined and kept down to one note, 
made to testify to just a single fact all through the 
changing life of a Christian, and that fact his par- 
don? Is there no such thing as purity and holiness 
in the dispensation of the Holy Ghost? Can't he 
produce these conditions? And if he does, will he 
not witness to his work, and let a man know that 
he has a pure heart and is now sanctified? 

Your reply is that you can see in the Bible where 
the witness to pardon and conversion is taught, 
but not where the witness to sanctification ap- 
pears. 

Suppose you turn to i Corinthians ii. 12: ''Now 
we have received, not the spirit of the world, but 
the spirit which is of God; that wc might know thii 



S8 SA JVC TIFICA TION. 

things that are freely given to us of God." Is not 
purity, or holiness, one of the works of God? If 
we obtain it, this verse says that the Spirit will let 
us know. 

Now turn to Acts xv. 8, and read: *'And God, 
which knoweth the hearts, hare them witness^ giv- 
ing them the Holy Ghosts The verse that follows 
tells what had happened — that God had purified 
their hearts by faith, and now he sends the Holy 
Ghost to bear witness to the purity imparted. 

Now let the reader turn to Hebrews x. 14, and 
see the fact stated clearly and unanswerably: ** For 
by one offering he hath forever perfected them 
that are sanctified, whereof the Holy Ghost also is a 
witness to us,'*'' 



CHAPTER XIII. 

WHERE SANCTIFICATION IS SYMBOLICALLY TAUGHT 
IN THE BIBLE. 

fIRST, it is notably seen in the arrangement 
and division of the tabernacle and temple into 
the holy and most holy places. Why this division? 
What did God design to teach, if not the two ex- 
periences of regeneration and sanctification ? Sev- 
eral things at once arrest our attention: one is that 
a veil separated the two places, just as a veil hides 
the sanctified life from the regenerated man to- 
day. 

Again, it required a fresh application of blood 
to enter into the most holy place. The fact of 
a second faith in, or applying of, the blood of 
Christ, in order for the soul to enter into the sanc- 
tified life, is here powerfully taught. • 

Still again, the rarity with which the inner sanc- 
tuary was entered is deeply significant. 

Furthermore, that which was found in the most 

holy place is equally suggestive and confirmatory 

as well. There was the ever present law, the 

manna that never corrupted, and the perpetual 

manifestation of the glory of God. These things, 

(89) 



go SANC r I PICA TION. 

looked at from the sanctified experience, mean the 
law written on the mind, the continual feeding of 
the soul on Christ, the hidden manna, and the per- 
petual presence of God in the heart and life. 

The rending of the veil, at the death of Christ, 
declared that the blessing, known to but few be- 
fore, could now be entered upon and enjoyed by 
all. As Peter, explaining sanctification on the day 
of Pentecost, said: *'The promise is unto you, and 
to your children, and to all that are afar off, even 
as many as the Lord our God shall call." 

Second, the second blessing, or sanctification, 
is seen in the second cleansing of the temple. If 
any man should ask why a second purifying of the 
heart is needed, the reply might properly be given : 
Why should the temple require a second cleans- 
ing? Was not one sufficient? Does Christ do 
things imperfectly? 

The writer firmly believes that the double work 
was done not only to show how pure and sacred 
the temple of God should be, but also to shadow 
and typify the two distinct blessings of Christian- 
ity. 

When we remember that the word of God says 
that zue are the temple of God that twofold puri- 
fication becomes all the more significant. 

Third, the second blessing, or sanctification, is 



i 



6' TMBOLICALL T TA UGHT IN THE BIBLE. 9 1 

seen in the second touch laid upon the eyes of the 
r bHnd man. It actually seems that this miracle was 
wrought by the Lord to refute all gainsaying and 
doubting directed against the reasonableness and 
necessity of a second work in the soul. 

Fourth, the second blessing, or sanctification, is 
seen in the two baptisms of the Bible ; the one of 
water, and the other of fire and the Holy Ghost. 
Commentators agree that the baptism of fire and 
the Holy Ghost are one. 

It is idle to say that men had not received for- 
giveness of sin before Christ came. All through 
the ages men have kno^^ n the joys of pardon. In 
John the Baptist's time there was remission of sins 
granted to multitudes. They were baptized at or 
near the time of this remission of transgressions, 
so that the baptism became a synonym of, or rep- 
resented, the greater work of pardon or regenera- 
tion. The expression "born of water," we are 
firmly convinced, had no other meaning. 

The distinguishing feature of Christ's coming 
was that he should "baptize with fire and the Holy 
Ghost." If only pardon and conversion were 
meant by these words, in what respect were we 
advantaged of his coming? and what great distin- 
guishing mark of his work and kingdom do we 
have? If, when the Baptist said of him, "he shall 



9 2 SAJVC T I PICA TION. 

baptize you with fire," he meant only that he would 
forgive and convert the people, then he is convict- 
ed of uttering a foolish and needless thing ! It is 
equivalent to saying that you will bring a man 
something that he already has. And, in this in- 
stance, John is seen holding up as a distinguishing 
mark of the Messiah that which really was no dis- 
tinguishing or pecuHar mark at all. 

By a resistless logic, then, we are driven to see 
the second blessing, or the experience of sanctifi- 
cation, in the words of John the Baptist: "I bap- 
tize you with water for the remission of sins, but 
he who cometh after me, he shall baptize you with 
the Holy Ghost, and with fire." 

This blessing had been rarely enjoyed before 
Christ came. But after his coming it should be 
the privilege of all. It should become a gen- 
eral blessing. The Most Holy Place, typifying 
the blessing, was entered rarely; but the Son of 
God would rend the veil, and now all the people 
could enter in, and all become holy. So read 
the prophecies. And this was to be the crown- 
ing, declarative, distinguishing mark of the Mes- 
siah. 

The Saviour recognized and alluded to the two 
blessings or works in his words to Nicodemus, 
when he said: "Except a man be born of water 



.9 TMBOLICALL T TA UGIIT IN THE BIBLE. 93 

and of the Spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of 
God." 

Fifth, the second blessing, or sanctification, is 
seen in two washings mentioned in the Old Testa- 
ment. The first is in Isaiah i. 18: '*Come . . . 
though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as 
white as snow." Here is regeneration. The in- 
vitation is clearly given to the sinner; the chapter 
and verse quoted point plainly to that fact. As a 
pardoned man, he is as white as snow. 

Now turn to Psalm li. 7, and read how a child of 
God prays who has discovered remaining corrup- 
tion in his heart: ''Wash me, and I shall be whiter 
than snow." Here is sanctification. The regen- 
erated soul is white as snow, but snow is not per- 
fectly pure. As it comes through our atmosphere, 
of dust, smoke, soot, and gases, it becomes, in a 
measure, defiled. The skeptical, by the use of a 
microscope, will be convinced of this fact. See 
the beautiful agreement between figure and fact. 
Snow is not perfectly pure; neither is the regen- 
erated soul. Defilement is there — a dark, disturb- 
ing something which, for want of a better name, 
we call inbred sin, or depravity. Sanctification 
takes that one defilement out. The first baptism 
makes you "white as snow; " the second baptism, 
or washing of fire, makes you ^''whiter than snow." 



94 SANC T I PICA TION. 

Isaiah was inviting to regeneration ; David was 
praying for sanctification. 

Sixth, the second blessing, or sanctification, is 
seen in the highway and way mentioned by Isaiah, 
in chapter xxxv. verse 8 : "And a -highway shall be 
there, and a way, and it shall be called the way of 
holiness." No one can read the verse without see^ 
ing that two ways are spoken of here. One is a 
highway, and the other a way. And the striking 
fact is that the way is in the highway. It is in a 
measure hidden, just as sanctification is a hidden 
life. Another striking fact is that the verse says 
that "the way" (not the highway) shall be called 
the way of holiness. 

Why is it that two ways should be spoken of here 
in reference to the kingdom of Christ? From the 
simple fact that there are two ways in the kingdom 
of Christ along which his people walk. The high- 
way is known to all. The regenerated life, for 
certain reasons, is a highway; it is seen b3^all and 
known to all. But there is another way, called a 
way — one that is not so evident at first as the other, 
from the fact, perhaps, that in a sense it is in the 
highway, but mainly for reasons that we have not 
time to mention and dwell upon at this moment. 

But it is deeply significant that it is "the way" 
that is in a measure hidden — so hidden that I 



^ 2 'MB O Lie ALL T TA UGHT IN TIfE BIBL E. 95 

thought for years that this glorious affirmation of 
the text was predicated of the highway ; that it is 
this obscure way that is called the way of holiness. 

The three distinguishing features of this way are 
the perpetual companionship of God, the absence 
of the animal in appetite and ferocity, and the con- 
stant joy and triumph of the soul. All these ap- 
pear in the ninth and tenth verses. This state any 
one who has received the second blessing will tell 
you is the glad and holy experience of the sancti- 
fied heart. 

Seventh, the second blessing, or sanctification, 
is seen in the home of Bethany in the lives of the 
two sisters. 

No one can doubt that both of them loved the 
Lord. To love Christ requires regeneration. The 
household of Bethany was a Christian home, where 
Christ always found affection, rest, and welcome. 

But it is not less evident that, while both sisters 
were Christ's followers, yet Mary possessed some- 
thing that Martha did not. That quiet restfulness ; 
that absorbed sitting at the Master*s feet; that si- 
lent way of giving; the very richness of the gift, 
are all unmistakable marks of the holy heart. 

Moreover, Christ settled the fact by his own 
words: ''Mary hath chosen that better fart ^ which 
shall never be taken away from her." Let the 



96 SANC TIFICA TION. 

reader turn to i Corinthians xii. 31, and read: 
*' Covet earnestly the best gifts; and yet show I 
unto you a more excellent way^ The light in this 
verse throws light on the other. The * ' better part ' ' 
and the *'more excellent way" are one and the 
same. It was not temperament in Mary that made 
her different from her sister Martha. Christ shows 
this by the words: '*She hath chosen that better 
part." You can't choose your temperament. In 
a word, she had entered by a volitional act of her 
own into the more excellent way — the way in the 
highway, the way that Paul describes in the thir- 
teenth chapter of i Corinthians, and which chapter. 
is nothing but a description of the sanctified life. 

Eighth, the second blessing, or sanctification, 
is seen in the two parables of the hidden treasure 
and the purchased pearl of great price. The find- 
ing of the treasure stands for conversion, and the 
obtain ment of the pearl for sanctification. The 
two parables stand in marked contrast to each 
other, and bear the distinct features of the two ex- 
periences. 

The finding of the treasure was a surprise — the 
man stumbled on it ; whilst the pearl of great price 
was sought after. In almost every instance con- 
version comes upon the soul with the unexpect- 
ed suddenness of revealed buried treasure, while 



6" TMBOLICALL T TA UGHT IN THE BIBLE. 97 

sanctlfication is obtained with a full recognition of 
what is to come. It is never sought and found 
with the despair of a sinner, but with the intelli- 
gent purpose and desire of a child of God, who is 
convinced that there is this blessed experience 
awaiting him. There is a vast difference between 
a wayfarer who stumbles upon treasure and a mer- 
chantman who seeks discriminatingly a certain rare 
form of wealth. The sinner finding pardon is the 
wayfarer; the Christian obtaining sanctlfication is 
the merchantman. 

Another difference seen is in the evidently dissimi- 
lar circumstances of the two men. The merchant- 
man stands out clearly revealed as greater in his 
possessions than the wayfarer. This appears in 
his business character and in the things he pur- 
chased, which were not little fields or strips of 
land, but pearls of great price. 

So is the difference seen in the sinner seeking 
pardon and the Christian seeking holiness. The 
Christian comes more richly endowed than the sin- 
ner. He comes with a clear conscience, with the 
fruits of the Spirit, with growth in grace, with a 
devoted Christian life, and pays them down; lays 
them all on the altar, perfumed with the blood of 
Christ, as he pleads for the blessing of holiness, 
the pearl of great price. 



9^ SANC T I PICA TJON. 

Then there is a difference manifest in the con- 
sciousness of different values. The buried treas- 
ure might be much or little, but a pearl of great 
price is lifted immediately into the highest grade 
of riches. There is no doubt but that he who ob- 
tains pardon feels and knows that he has a treas- 
ure in his soul. He calls it such, and rejoices ac- 
cordingly. But all the time there is a peculiar 
feeling that the value could be increased, that 
something could be added, that he could be spirit- 
ually richer. 

In the possession of the second blessing the 
feeling is different. The soul is thrilled with a 
sense of satisfaction. The man knows that he has 
*'the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of 
Christ," that he has the "better part," that he 
now possesses and enjoys the pearl of great price. 

Ninth, the second blessing, or sanctification, is 
in the two anointings of the leper. 

Let the reader turn to Leviticus, chapter xiv. 
and verses 14-17, and he cannot but be impressed 
with its symbolic teaching as he compares it with 
other utterances and events mentioned in the Bi- 
ble. 

Leprosy stands invariably for sin, the leper for 
the sinner. When he was to be made clean, it is 
remarkable that the cleansing was effected not by 



5 TMBOLICALL T TA UGHT IN THE BIBLE. 99 

one, but by two anointings. And the two anoint- 
ings were made all the more distinct by the use of 
two different things. 

The leper was first anointed with blood, and then 
after that he was anointed with the holy oil of the 
sanctuary. The blood was taken from the slain 
lamb, which typified Christ, while the oil always 
stood for the Holy Ghost. The oil was put upon 
the blood, not instantaneously, but afterward. 
The passage referred to says that, after the sec- 
ond anointing, the leper was clean. 

Take this symbolic scene with you to the day of 
Pentecost, and what a new light falls upon that 
occasion! We notice, with profound emotion, 
that the two scenes are one ; that upon the blood- 
washed assembly is poured the unction or anoint- 
ing of the Holy Ghost. 

Further on we see that upon the blood-washed 
Cornelius falls the Holy Ghost; that on the blood- 
washed disciples of Ephesus came the same bap- 
tism or anointing. It is always the oil on the 
blood. That is the second blessing. In the 
Scripture oil is the instrument of healing. 

Malachi refers to all this when he says: *'Unto 
them thaty^<7r my name shall the Sun of righteous- 
ness arise with healing in his wings." 

Tenth, the second blessing, or the blessing of 



I OO SA NC T I PICA TION. 

sanctification, is seen in the two crossings made 
by the children of Israel — one over the Red Sea, 
the other the river Jordan. For portions of this 
striking thought I am indebted to Rev. George D. 
Watson, author of "White Robes." 

As the two crossings took place under the spe- 
cial direction of God, and as they were so mark- 
edly different, it stands to reason that they were 
typical of two different spiritual truths and expe- 
riences. 

He that educated and prepared us for the sacri- 
fice and death of Christ by the lamb, taken from 
the fold, slain in the afternoon, eaten with bitter 
herbs, with no bones broken, and resting on a spit 
the shape of the cross ; he that taught the resur- 
rection by the miracle of Jonah's life; and his 
own descent from heaven, and satisfjdng and sus- 
taining power by the manna that fell from the 
skies, would surely in as remarkable a way typify 
and symbolize so wonderful a blessing as sanctifi- 
cation in some striking and forcible way. The 
two crossings are thus intended of God. The 
passage of the Red Sea teaches all that occurs at 
conversion, and the passage of the river Jordan 
illustrates sanctification. 

The contrast between the two is marked. At 
the Red Sea the Israelites were fleeing from an 



5 TMBOLICALL T TA UGHT IN THE BIBLE. I O I 

enemy, and were delivered. At the Jordan they 
were not in flight; but were drawn by the good- 
ness and beauty of the land of Canaan, and en- 
tered into rest. How beautifully this describes the 
two experiences ! 

Again, at the Red Sea the children of Israel 
were in great haste, while at the Jordan you see 
evidence of calm and deliberate action. This, 
again, strikingly brings out the two blessings. 
Conversion is found in a hurry; but the blessing 
of sanctification comes invariably after deep re- 
flection, and full deliberation and conclusion of 
mind. 

Again, at the Red Sea the Israelites went down 
into the sea a multitude of empty-handed and un- 
armed fugitives; but at the Jordan they went in 
fully armed. How clearly appears here the state 
of the flying penitent seeking safety, and the con- 
secrated Christian coming with all his powers to 
God, seeking a life of perfect rest and holiness ! 

Again, at the Red Sea the children of Israel 
stepped into a dry and open path between the 
waters — not a wave or pool was left in their 
course ; but at the Jordan they had to place their 
feet in the water before the waves receded, and 
the path became open. 

This most strikingly illustrates the entrance into 



I02 SANC TIFIQA TION. 

and upon the two lives of regeneration and sancti- 
fication. In the way of pardon the path is clear; 
we flee through prayer into the experience. At 
such a time we are weak, and could not stand any 
difficulty flung before us; but, in obtaining the 
blessing of sanctification, our faith is naturally 
much stronger, and so the way is not open at first; 
we actually have to put our feet into the waves be- 
fore they recede — in other words, we claim the 
blessing by a strong faith before there is an indi- 
cation or assurance of the great salvation. In a 
very special manner here the faith precedes the 
work and the witness. 

Still again, there is seen a very great difference 
in the emotional life after the two crossings. At 
the Red Sea the Israelites were in perfect trans- 
ports. They sung, they danced, they struck the 
timbrel, and the burden of the song was their de- . 
liverance from the Egyptians. At the Jordan, in- 
stead of ecstasy, there seems to have been an un- 
utterable sense of peace, a calm and holy joy and 
triumph. As you read the description you cannot 
but feel the intense but voiceless emotion of the 
multitudes. It was an hour too blessed and holy 
for noisy cymbals. The memories of the past, the 
recollection of the mistakes and wandering of 
forty years, the remembrance that triumph had 



SYMBOLIC ALL T TA UGHT /A THE BIBLE. 103 

been offered them long before, the tender mind- 
fulness of the pity and long-suffering of God 
meanwhile, together with the overpowering thought 
that " Canaan, sweet Canaan," so long wished for 
and sought after, was at last theirs — contributed 
an experience so tender, so melting, and so power- 
ful that the desire was rather to sit or stand in the 
presence of God in a holy joy and triumph too deep 
for earthly language to express. 

Who that remembers the experience of conver- 
sion but will recall the fact that the song sung then 
was over a present and personal deliverance. It 
was the joy of pardon and escape ; and in count- 
less instances manifested itself in an exuberant 
and overflowing gratitude to God. 

In the blessing of sanctification, while there are 
frequent instances of rapture, yet the rule is that 
the entrance upon the Canaan, or rest-life, is 
marked by a profound and unutterable peace. 

It is a curious fact that the strongest winds do 
not produce the highest waves. On the contrary, 
by their tremendous force they level them. So in 
the spiritual life I have discovered that the deep- 
est experience of joy is oftentimes accompanied 
with the least demonstration of a noisy kind. The 
people that shout loudest are not always the happi- 
est. I have seen people absolutely too full to 



1 04 SAJVC T I PICA TION. 

speak. The eye, the voice, the face declared a 
fullness that no language could have conveyed as 
powerfully. 

Sanctification is a deeper experience than con- 
version. It involves a perfect surrender, an abso- 
lute and final consecration, and the utter extermi- 
nation of sin in the heart. Naturally we would 
look for great demonstrations. And so it is in 
the case of some ardent temperaments, and also 
when God is pleased to call attention to the doc- 
trine in certain skeptical communities. But the rule 
is, in the majority of cases, the bestowal of a peace 
^— a peace that often enters gradually, spreading, 
deepening, and sweetening as it goes, until the en- 
tire nature is thrilled and filled with it. A sense 
of unmistakable fullness is realized. The con- 
sciousness fills you that every part of the soul and 
body has been reached. A sense of being in- 
wardly healed, an exquisite experience of purity is 
felt, while the soul fairly melts with a baptism of 
perfect love. And through it all and in it all the 
Spirit of God whispers to the soul: "This is sanc- 
tification ! " 

All this frequently takes place with little outward 
emotion or demonstration. The wind has leveled 
the wave. It is not Arabia, but Canaan that has 
been entered, and Joshua is happier than Miriam. 



6" TMBOLICALL 2' TA UGHT IN THE BIBLE. 1 05 

It is not a life of hard-fought battles that is en- 
tered upon, but a constant experience of easy 
victories. Not a desert wandering has been in- 
augurated, but a blessed entrance upon rest, while 
the soul is rejoicing in a land flowing with milk 
and honey, "where the flowers bloom forever, and 
the sun is always bright." 

And so the peace of God — not peace with God 
(for that stands for the experience of pardon as 
shown in Romans v. i), but the peace of God — 
bathes the soul like the light falls continually and 
eternally upon the hills of heaven. 

It is a peculiar peace. It is the peace of sanc- 
tification. You will recognize it by the features I 
have mentioned. But aside from that, you will 
recognize it by the voice of the Sanctifier, who is 
enshrined within it, saying: *' Child, you are 
clean." 



CHAPTER XIV. 

WHERE SANCTIFICATION IS SPECIFICALLY TAUGHT 
IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 

N this chapter and the next we present for the 
reader's consideration about twenty passages 
from the word of God. Instead of twenty we 
could easily give ten times as many. The meth- 
od pursued in these chapters will be to quote the 
scripture, and under each passage make a few re- 
marks. 

As a proper starting thought, we call the read- 
er's attention to the fact that you cannot read the 
Bible without perceiving that there is a '* higher 
life" constantly recognized and brought forward 
in its pages. It is held up as an attainment; we 
are expected to come unto it; we are commanded 
to possess it, and are presented with characters 
who enjoyed and lived this life. An equally strik- 
ing fact beheld in Christian life is confirmator}^ of 
the Bible fact; and that is that we again and again 
meet with people of God who declare, and whom 
we evidently see are in possession of, a religious 
experience and life not enjoyed by the great ma- 
jority of Christians. The two facts agree ; like the 
(106) 



TAUGHT IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 107 

two angels in the most holy place, they bend over 
and look upon the same blessed truth. 

Sanctification is the precious treasure and bless- 
ing kept for the Church ; the Bible and Christian 
experience are the cherubim that, with extended 
wings, cover and protect and preserve the expe- 
rience. 

And now let us turn to the word of God. The 
first passage is : 

Numbers xvi. 3-5: **And they gathered them- 
selves together against Moses and against Aaron, 
and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, 
seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of 
them, and the Lord is among them: wherefore 
then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation 
of the Lord? And when Moses heard it, he fell 
upon his face: and he spoke unto Korah and unto 
all his company, saying. Even to-morrow the Lord 
will show who are his, and who is holy." 

So it seems that the doubt of God's people be- 
ing holy is an old one, and the dispute in regard to 
it and the attack made upon those w^ho profess the 
blessing are of ancient standing. It is noticeable, 
also, that the argument used now was the one used 
then against Moses — viz., that all of the congrega- 
tion was holy, every one of them ;- that every thing 
had been done in reereneration. The same slur is 



1 08 SANC TIFICA TION. 

heard, "You take too much upon you" in say- 
ing that God has made you holy; "wherefore do 
ye lift yourselves above the congregation?" How 
familiarly all this sounds ! Some of us have heard 
this many times. And let any one receive and pro- 
fess the blessing of holiness, and the words direct- 
ed to Moses will be leveled at him. 

No one can read this passage or study the life 
of Moses without seeing that he was in an experi- 
ence that his questioners and doubters did not en- 
joy. Either at the burning bush or on the mount 
with God the man Moses obtained the blessing 
that obtained for him the privilege of unbroken 
companionship with God, and a meekness that was 
above that of all surrounding men. God grant us, 
when doubted and assailed, to do as this man ! He 
fell on his face before God ; he committed the 
whole matter to the Almighty, who had sanctified 
him; his only reply was: "The Lord will show 
who are his, and who is holy." And so he will. 
Let no person possessing this blessing be the least 
uneasy. God will bear witness to his own work; he 
will show who has the blessing, and who has it not. 

Deuteronomy xxx. 6: "And the Lord thy God 
will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy 
seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, 
and with all thy soul." 



TA UGHT IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 1 09 

That here is a work and experience subsequent 
to regeneration is seen from three facts. One is 
that the promise here made is addressed to behev- 
ers ; another, that regeneration is never hkened to 
circumcision; and third, that the result stated of 
loving God with all the heart is the feature ascribed 
all through the Bible to the higher life held up for 
our attainment. In confirmation study the regen- 
erated life, and see if it impresses you as being 
such a life of perfect love and devotion to God as 
appears in this verse. This love is to arise not 
from growth, but from the circumcision of the 
heart of the believing child of God. 

Psalms XXV. 14: '*The secret of the Lord is 
with them that fear him." 

What is this secret? Not the divine presence 
on earth; the world admits God's omnipresence. 
Nor is it regeneration, for the Christian world be- 
lieves in that and teaches it. There is but one ex- 
perience covered by that expression — ''the secret 
of the Lord" — and that is the blessing of sanctifi- 
cation. The great type and symbol of it — the most 
holy place — was a secret place, while the experi- 
ence and life is still to-day hidden from multiplied 
millions in the Church. It is so hidden that even 
God's people deny it, although Paul prepares them 
to believe by describing it as being " hid in Christ," 



1 1 SA.VC TIFICA 7 ION. 

and David declares that by it we are "hid from 
the strife of tongues," and in one of the Psahns 
calls the possessors of the blessing God's "hidden 
ones." 

• Regeneration is no secret. But there are certain 
things about sanctification, in that it is peculiarly 
an interior life, and requires a second faith to come 
within the veil that entitles it to the description 
given in the verse. 

The "fear" mentioned in this connection, by 
which we obtain the secret, is no ordinary emotion 
or exercise of the mind. It is such a fear of God 
that casts out all fear of man and all efforts after 
his favor, and that leads to perfect consecration 
and obedience to God. 

Isaiah vi. 5-7: "Then said I, Woe is me! for I 
am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips: 
. . . for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord 
of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphim unto me, 
having a live coal in his hand, . . . and he laid it 
upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy 
lips ; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin 
purged." 

The question at once arises: What is this pro- 
found spiritual exercise before us ? Evidently not 
the conviction and pardon of a sinner; for Isaiah 
was one of God's prophets, and one so deeply 



TA UGHT IN THE OLD TES TAMENT. 1 1 1 

pious as to be called the evangelical prophet. Nor 
was he recovering from a course of backsliding. 
This appears, first, from his being in the discharge 
of duty. The fervent chapters preceding spiritually 
locate him. 

Again, his agony of contrition arose not from the 
commission of sins, but from a vision he had just 
obtained of the Lord in the temple. This is what 
comes to every man who is brought into the bless- 
ing of the sanctified life; the Lord is revealed to 
the soul ''high and lifted up." Let the reader 
turn to the first four verses of this chapter, and see 
for himself. 

Still again, the sin or iniquity that was taken 
from Isaiah is here placed in the singular numberc 
This shows that it was not pardon of transgressions 
he received, but the removal of the principle, or 
body, of sin; or, as it is called, inbred sin. 

A view of the holiness of God brings this inbred 
sin to light in the heart, and ushers in that profound 
agony seen in Isaiah and countless thousands of 
other devoted followers of God. The coal of fire 
represents the blessing of holiness. Fire stands for 
holiness in God's word, and never for regeneration. 
The altar of the temple was made holy by fire. 

Notice also that this blessing of holiness was 
brought, came from God, and was not developed 



1 1 2 SANC TIFICA TION. 

within by a long growth in grace. And, further- 
more, notice the alacrity, the gladness, and the 
fearlessness of sanctification, as shown in the ex- 
perience of Isaiah. *'Then said I, here am I; 
send me." 

Ezekiel xxxvi. 25: "Then will I sprinkle clean 
water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all 
your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I 
cleanse you." 

This has been often quoted as referring to the 
w^ork of regeneration. But the fact that it is a 
promise made to God '5 people, and that the bless- 
ing is one of ;picrzty^ and not far don, ought to be 
enough to convince the most skeptical that the 
blessing before us in the verse is sanctification. 
Another thing will show it. Let every regenerated 
man who reads these lines ask himself if regener- 
ation has taken all idols out of his heart and life. 
What about his ambition and love of place and 
power? what about the fear and favor of man? 
What about love of money and love of praise, and 
the love of some creature that is so powerful as to 
draw you away from duty, and interferes in cer- 
tain measures with the commands of God? Are 
these things gone? or do they remain? If they are 
still in the heart, then the second blessing is need- 
ed, in which all idols shall be removed. 



TA UGHT IN THE OLD TES TAME NT. 1 1 3 

Joel ii. 28, 29: *'And it shall come to pass after- 
ward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; 
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy; 
. . . and also upon the servants and upon the 
handmaids in those days will I pour out my 
Spirit." 

Here is undoubtedly a peculiar blessing promised 
in the last days to the Church. Certainly no one 
can think it is conversion that is here held forth. 
Are we to suppose that up to the time of Pente- 
cost, when this prophecy was fulfilled, that there 
had been no conversions, and that Joel was in- 
spired to say: '* In the last days, saith God, I will 
pour out my Spirit in converting power, and peo- 
ple shall then be regenerated for the first 
time?" 

What was David and Moses and Abraham and 
the prophets of whom the world was not worthy? 
In what state was God's people through the past 
ages ? Had he no people ? Were everybody 
damned before Pentecost? For if not regenerated 
they were compelled to be lost, according to 
Christ's statement to Nicodemus. Whatever this 
blessing or pouring out of the Spirit was, it could 
not be regeneration; for that experience was not 
new, while the promise in this verse is for some- 
thing remarkable, unusual, and new. When it 



1 14 SANC TIFICA TION. 

finally came to pass on the day of Pentecost, the 
reader will remember that this long-promised bless- 
ing fell upon Christian men and women. 

So the promised pouring out, or baptism of the 
Spirit, was not conversion. Nor was it a simple 
qualification of one hundred and twenty disciples 
to spread Christianity. What a narrow view to 
take of this promise to confine an unspeakable 
blessing to sixscore people, and make it a mere 
temporary endowment to meet the emergencies of 
a few days or years ! What a belittling of proph- 
ecy to assert that God inspired the prophets nearly 
a thousand years before to solemnly hold up a 
great blessing that, after all, was only for a hun- 
dred and twenty people, and was to pass away and 
die with them! Common sense, as well as Script- 
ure, is against such an interpretation. 

Moreover, the language of the verse itself con- 
tradicts such a view. It plainly says the Spirit in 
this peculiar baptism was for *' all flesh." It fur- 
thermore adds that it was a blessing that should be 
enjoyed by our servants, while at Pentecost we see 
not a single slave or servant present. 

Inasmuch, then, as the work of grace prophesied 
here by Joel was not conversion, nor a mere qual- 
ification for work, we are irresistibly driven to the 
conclusion that it is one of the many promises of 



TA UGHT IN THE OLD TES TAMENT. 1 1 5 

the Old Testament of the gift of the blessing of 
sanctification. 

Remember that sanctification, or holiness, is 
represented in the Bible by fire, and bear in mind 
that at Pentecost with the descending Spirit came 
tongues of fire upon every head. One hundred 
and twenty symbols, or banners of holiness, were 
waving over as many persons. And remember that 
at this juncture Peter, a Christian minister, with one 
of these celestial plumes of holiness floating over 
his head, arose from the midst of one hundred and 
nineteen similarly becrowned Christians, and said: 
*'This is that which was spoken by the prophet 
Joel." 

Malachi iv. 2: "Unto you that fear my name 
shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing 
in his wings." 

Those that fear the name of God are his peo- 
ple. In regard to the wicked, the Bible says there 
is no fear of God before his eyes. So the fact es- 
tablished in this verse is that here are God's peo- 
ple before us, and to them shall come a second 
blessing in the future. This blessing is called 
healing — just what sanctification is felt to be. The 
remaining sentence of the verse declares the activ- 
ity of life and rapid growth in grace peculiar to 
the sanctified soul. 



CHAPTER XV. 

WHERE SANCTIFICATION IS SPECIFICALLY TAUGHT 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 

j^ ATTHEW i. 21 : ''And she shall bring forth 
^/^i a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: 
for he shall save his people from their sins." 

The reader will notice that Christ is here prom- 
ised to save his people from their sins, not sinners. 
Let the person who insists that the regenerated are 
made holy in conversion read this verse and be 
convinced to the contrary. All through the Script- 
ures there is attributed to Christ at his coming a 
peculiar work in behalf of and in his people. He 
will thoroughly purge his floor and cleanse his 
wheat; he will sit as a refiner, will purify the sons 
of Levi ^ and will save his people from their sins. 
It refers to a work subsequent to regeneration, and 
that work is sanctification. Sanctification purifies 
the sons of Levi and saves Christians from all sin. 
John vii. 38: *'He that believeth on me, as the 
Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow riv- 
ers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spir- 
it, which they that believe on him should 7'eceive: 
for the Holy Ghost was not yet given.)" 
(116)' 



TA UGHT IN THE NB W TES TAMENT. 1 1 7 

This passage cannot be read without perceiving 
that it holds up for the beHever a second blessing. 

The Holy Ghost had been given as a Pardoner 
and Comforter long before. David had prayed: 
'•' Take not thy Holy Spirit from me." Paul says 
that holy men wrote the word as they were " moved 
by the Holy Ghost." Evidently, then, the prom- 
ise in the passage above is for the gift of the Holy 
Ghost in a new form or office — viz., as the sancti- 
fier. This, then, is the second blessing: "They 
that believe [that are already believers] shall re- 
ceive the Holy GhoGt." After this living waters 
shall rise up and flow uninterruptedly from the 
heart and life. 

John xiv. 23: " Jefjus answered, if a man love 
me^ he will keef my words: and my Father will 
love him, and we will coi7ie unto hhn, and make our 
abode zvith himy 

Here is unquestionably something of a wonder- 
ful nature done some time after conversion. The 
promise is to a regenerated man, for the heart can- 
not love Christ unless it has been born again. Now 
read : " If a man loves me, keeps my words " — all 
this is in the present. Now comes the assurance 
of something in the future: "We" — that is, the 
Father and the Son — "will come unto him and 
take up our abode with him." 



1 1 8 SANC T I PICA TION. 

This constant abiding of the Father and the Son 
in the soul is one of the wonderful and gracious 
features of sanctification. This is also the fulfill- 
ment of what was shadowed in the most holy place, 
in the perpetual shekinah, the glorious indwelling 
of God. 

John XV. 2: ** Every branch that hearcth fruit, 
\\Q j)tirgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit." 

Here the Christian is represented as a branch on 
the vine, Christ, and as bearing fruit. After this, 
and while bearing fruit, it is suddenly cleansed. 
The Greek word kathairei^ translated "purgeth" 
in the verse above, has for its main meaning, ac- 
cording to the lexicon, " cleanseth and purifieth." 

Take it any way, this verse is a death-blow to 
those who insist that we are made holy in regener- 
ation, and need only time for development. It 
plainly teaches that there is a cleansing after con- 
version, and that this purification, done by Christ 
himself, comes not to a backslider, but to a branch 
on the vine — to a Christian bearing fruit. 

John xvii. i6, 17: ** They are not of the world, 
even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them 
through thy truth." 

Christ is speaking of the disciples. He declares 
that they are not of the world — are spiritual and 
unworldlv, even as he is. In other verses he savs 



TA UGHT IN THE NE W TES TAMENT. 1 1 p 

that they had received his word, that they were his, 
that he was glorified in them, and that they had 
kept his word. All this settles the fact of their 
regenerate and spiritual state ; and yet he immedi- 
ately adds, in prayer to his Father: " Sanctify 
them." Notice that something else is to be done 
to them, and they (the disciples) are not to do it. 
Here is not an exhortation to grow in grace, but 
the prayer is to God to '' sanctify them." In plain 
language, here is a second work of God. 

Acts i. 4, 5: "And, being assembled together 
with them, commanded them that they should not 
depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of 
the leather, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. 
For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall 
be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days 
hence." 

This is Christ speaking. He is telling his disci- 
ples about a blessing that is soon to come upon 
them. He calls it the promise of the Father. He 
affirms that he had spoken to them about it before 
— *' which, saith he, ye have heard of me." It 
was so great and gracious a blessing, so distinctive 
and important as a divine work, that he had re- 
peatedly before spoken of it, and in a measure pre- 
pared them for its reception. 

It was not pardon; for he long before had said 



1 20 SAJVC TIFICA TION. 

their names were in the Book of Life, and that 
they were branches in the true vine. It was not 
the enjoyment of his peace; that he had before 
breathed upon them. It was not the receiving of 
the Holy Ghost for the first time; for several 
weeks before this he had breathed upon them, 
and said: "Receive ye the Hol}^ Ghost." 

The blessing he told them to wait in Jerusalem 
for was *' the promise of the Father," uttered a 
long time before, and through many lips. It was 
the baptism of the Holy Ghost, prophesied by 
Joel; the circumcision of the heart, predicted by 
Moses; the cleansing from all filthiness and idols, 
promised by Ezekiel; the holiness, mentioned by 
Isaiah;- the healing, alluded to by Malachi; the 
serving God without fear, declared by Zechariah ; 
the enduement of power from on high, mentioned 
by the Saviour; and the sanctification, spoken of 
by Paul and the Lord himself. 

"Wait for it," said the Saviour. " Depart not 
from Jerusalem until you obtain it." So here was 
a blessing that had not come v/ith regeneration. 
What a death-blow are the words of Christ to that 
teaching which affirms that we are made holy in 
conversion, and that nothing more is needed but 
development, or growth in grace ! 

The promise here is not growth in grace. The 



TA UGHT IN THE NE W TES TAMENT. 1 2 1 

disciples are not told to wait until developed into 
holiness and spiritual power. It was not for man's 
work they are exhorted to linger, but for cm addi- 
tional work of God done subsequent to regenera- 
tion. 

The reader, by perusing the second chapter of 
Acts, will see how and when that work was ac- 
compUshed. And he will notice what changed 
men the disciples became from that time. Cour- 
age, fearlessness, devotion, love, compassion, and 
holiness are now the marked features of their 
lives. They did not grow into this state, but were 
suddenly translated into it by the baptism of the 
Holy Ghost — by sanctification, which is the prom- 
ise of the Father. 

Does any one think that this gracious second 
blessing was simply for a band of Galilean peas- 
ants, tradesmen, and fishermen ? Perhaps some of 
the observers on the day of Pentecost thought so. 
Perhaps, with sad hearts, they said so. Perhaps 
the reader, with equal blindness and ignorance of 
his high privilege in Christ, may have said so many 
times. 

Because of this very possibility of doubt and fear 
the Lord inspired Peter to stand upon his feet 
and say, with a joyous, exultant voice to the crowds 
that looked on: *'The promise is unto you, and to 



122 SANCTIFICATION. 

your children, and to all that are afar off, even as 
many as the Lord our God shall call." 

Acts ii. 38: "Repent, and be baptized every 
one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the re- 
mission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the 
Holy Ghost." 

How wonderfully clear the second blessing, or 
sanctification, appears in this verse! The remis- 
sion of sins and the gift of the Holy Ghost, which 
is one of the names of sanctification, are both 
mentioned, and that, too, in different parts of the 
verse. If they meant the same thing, the Holy 
Ghost would not have used both expressions. If 
they meant the same, the verse becomes a silly 
repetition, and would read: "Ye shall receive 
the remission of sins and remission of sins." In 
confirmation of the fact that the expression re- 
ferred to two different acts of grace we notice 
that the remission of sins had been received, and 
now to that the promise is given in the future 
tense: "Ye shall receive the gift of the Holy 
Ghost." 

The instances of the believers in Samaria, and 
of Cornelius, who evidently received the blessing 
of sanctification, inasmuch as the Bible sa3"S that 
he was before that a devout man, I have to pass 
over because the scripture necessary to be quoted 



TA UGHT IN THE NE W TES TAMENT. 1 2 3 

would be more than the limits of this chapter would 
allow. Let the reader turn to Acts xiii. 5-17 and 
Acts X., and be satisfied for himself. 

Acts xix. I, 2, 6: *'Paul having passed through 
the upper coasts came to Ephesus; and finding 
certain discifles, he said unto them, Have ye re- 
ceived the Holy Ghost since ye believed? " "And 
when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy 
Ghost came on them ; and they spake with tongues, 
and prophesied." 

We fail to see how the second blessing, or sanc- 
tification, could be presented m a plainer and more 
forcible manner than is done here. 

Of the men mentioned above it is said they were 
disciples, and that they had believed. This settles 
the fact of their regeneration. A man cannot be- 
lieve and be a disciple without being regenerated. 
To these disciples Paul comes, and informs them 
of another and higher blessing. They replied that 
they had not heard of it. Under his preaching and 
instruction they seek for and obtain the blessing. 
The sixth verse shows us that it was not conversion, 
but the identical blessing received by the disciples 
on the day of Pentecost. 

Acts xxvi. 18: *' That they may receive forgive- 
ness of sins, and inheritance among them which 
are sanctified by faith that is in me." 



1 24 SANC TIFICA TION. 

This verse is so convincing in itself that it needs 
no extended remark to call attention to the two 
classifications of Christians presented so unmistak- 
ably. The comma after the word " sins," the 
force of the italicized word "and," the separation 
of the two blessings by punctuation, and their rec- 
ognition by actual phraseology, are sufficient to 
convince any one but the man who is determined 
not to believe. 

Romans i . 1 1 : * ' For I long to see you , that I may 
impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye 
may be established." 

Paul is writing to Roman Christians. That they 
were regenerated men appears from his statement 
that "their faith was spoken of throughout the 
whole world." And yet he writes to them that he 
desires to impart unto them another gift. 

Let the reader mark the force of the different 
words of this verse. It is 'Si gift he w^ants them to 
have, not growth in grace. And the verse says '* a 
spiritual gift." So there was something else to be 
added to regenerated people ; not a development, 
but another gift. 

The Greek word charisma^ translated "gift," 
has also "grace" for its meaning, and a third 
meaning is a "work or gift of the Holy Ghost." 
A truer translation will drop the word "some." 



TA UGHT IN THE NE W TES TAMENT. 1 25 

So that the sentence reads; '* I long to impart unto 
you a spiritual gift or grace." 

The concluding expression is striking and sig- 
nificant: *'To the end ye may be established." 
The purpose of the grace or gift was to estabhsh 
them. Now the question is: What gift or grace 
establishes the believer? 

Not a passing emotion. Not one of the bless- 
ings we obtain daily at a throne of grace. Nor 
could Paul have referred to growth in grace as the 
establishing blessing, for he said he wanted to 
come and impart the blessing to them, and how 
could he impart growth in grace ? For growth in 
grace time is needed, and not Paul. 

I press the question : What grace or gift estab- 
lishes the believer? and I reply from the word of 
God, as found in the first and second chapters of 
Acts, and in i Thessalonians iii. 13, where we 
hear Paul praying that ''•God may stahlish your 
hearts unblamable in holiness.'''' 

Reader, remember the word translated "holi- 
ness" here has for its twin meaning " sanctifica- 
tion." So it reads: ''May God stablish your 
hearts unblamable in sanctification." Now turn 
back to Romans i. 11, and you are prepared to 
read it intelligently. 

Thank God that there is a gift or grace that es- 



1 26 SANC TIFICA TION. 

tablishes the believer, and that spiritual gift (not 
growth) is sanctification ! 

It was this blessing that Paul wanted the Roman 
Christians to possess. And it is this blessing that 
the writer would be willing to lay down his life in 
order to impart or bring to the people of God. 

Romans v. i, 2: " Therefore being justified by 
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord 
Jesus Christ: by whom also w^e have access by 
faith into this grace wherein we stand. "^^ 

Who is it that can read this passage and not see 
two works of grace distinctly and clearly men- 
tioned? In the first verse appears the peace of the 
pardoned and regenerated man, a peace that comes 
by faith through the Lord Jesus Christ. Now read 
the second verse: *' By whom also."*^ There is 
something else, you see. We have access hy faith 
(not growth), by faith into this grace wherein we 
stand. So there is another grace ; and it comes by 
faith. 

This was the gift or grace that PauHvrote about 
to the Romans ; and in a little while you will find 
him writing to the Corinthians about it, and to the 
Thessalonians and to the Hebrews. 

You notice that he says that by it he is able to 
** stand.*' There again is the idea of being estab- 
lished. O how the Scripture harmonizes in all its 



TA UGHT IN THE NE W TES TAMENT. 1 2 7 

doctrinal statements and presentations of Christian 
experience ! 

Let the reader testify as he will to what is the 
falling experience. Thank God there is a " standT 
ing" grace, an establishing grace, and that gift or 
grace is sanctification. 

Romans xv. 29: "And I am sure that, when I 
come unto you, I shall come in the fullness of the 
blessing of the gospel of Christ." 

Here Paul, under a slight change of phraseology, 
is speaking again of the grace and blessings he 
wrote of in the first and fifth chapters. In the 
opening chapter he said he longed to come to them, 
in order to impart the gift that establishes; and 
here he says, in concluding the Epistle: *'I am 
sure, when I come, I will bring the blessing." The 
gospel of Christ brings a blessing, but it has also 
'* the fullness of blessing." 

There is a great difference between the two. 
There is such a thing as a vessel's containing a 
liquid, and a vesseFs hoing Jilled with the liquid. 
At the day of Pentecost, when the disciples were 
sanctified, the Bible says **they were ^//^^ with 
the Holy Ghost." When a man to-day obtains the 
same blessing he realizes the same "fullness" in 
his experience. The old half-empty, yearning, un- 
satisfied feeling is taken away or disappears in a 



128 SAJVC T I PICA TION. 

blessing that permanently fills him with the Holy 
Ghost. The experience that Paul calls '*the full- 
ness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ" has 
come. 

1 Corinthians i. 30 : '* But of him are ye in Christ 
Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and 
righteousness, and sanctijication^ and redemption." 

The words *' wisdom," " righteousness," " sanc- 
tification," and " redemption," in this verse, are 
all from different Greek words, and signify differ- 
ent works done in us and for us by Christ. Wisdom, 
from the Greek word sofhia, refers to the convict- 
ing and illuminating work of the Saviour. Right- 
eousness, from the word dikaiosune^ has the same 
meaning as justification. Sanctification, from the 
word hagiasmos, is properly translated, although ho- 
liness and purity are additional definitions. Re- 
demption is from the word ofohitrosis^ and refers 
evidently to the final release and deliverance from 
the grave. Here are four words referring to four 
distinct works of Christ, and they are all instanta- 
neous works, and done at different times. These 
works are ** conviction," ** conversion," *' sancti- 
fication," and the ** resurrection." 

2 Corinthians i. 15: "And in this confidence I 
was minded to come unto you before, that ye 
might have a second hcnejit,'' 



TA UGHT IN THE NE W TES TAME NT. 1 29 

The word translated *' benefit" is from the word 
char is in the Greek. The following are the three 
prominent meanings or definitions of the word: 
free gift, grace, and divine grace. Thus translat- 
ed, the sentence reads: *'That ye might have a 
second grace." This is exactly what sanctifica- 
tion is — a second free gift or divine grace imparted 
to the soul. 

Certainly no one supposes that these Corinth- 
ians had not had another experience of peace and 
joy since their conversion. Doubtless they had 
enjoyed a thousand blessings in their souls. The 
second benefit, or grace, Paul wanted them to have 
was not a second transitory religious emotion, for 
this idea degrades or belittles the whole matter. 
Think of the apostle coming over sea and land to 
Corinth, just to get a few Christians happy for a 
few minutes I 

The second benefit, or grace, he spoke of was 
the second blessing, or the blessing of entire sanc- 
tification. 

Ephesians i. 13: *'In whom ]/. ^., Christ] ye 

also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, 

the gospel of your salvation: in whom also, after 

that ye beheved, ye were sealed with that Holy 

Spirit of promise." 

The two blessings and lives are so manifest in 
9 



1 30 SAJVC TIFICA TION. 

this scripture that they hardly need to be pointed 
out. I simply call attention to the fact of how dis- 
tinctly they are separated by their position in the 
verse, and by the verbiage in which they are de- 
scribed. The two italicised words are full of 
force. 

Ephesians v. 26: *'That he might sanctify and 
cleanse it with the washing of water by the word." 

The apostle is speaking of the Church. Let the 
reader take up the Revised Version, and the verse 
qouted above will be found to read as follows: 
"That he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by 
the washing of water with the word." 

Here is sanctification promised to those cleansed 
by regeneration. And that it is a momentary act 
is seen from the aorist tense in which the verb ap- 
pears. 

I Thessalonians v. 23: **And the very God of 
peace sanctify you wholly." 

The following facts appear in this verse. First, 
that regenerated people are only partially sancti- 
fied. Second, that they can be wholly sanctified. 
Third, that this entire sanctification is the work of 
God^ and therefore not growth in grace, which 
is man's work and duty. Fourth, the passage 
teaches not a future, but a present and instantane- 
ous work. 



TA UGHT IN THE NE W TES TAMENT, 1 3 1 

Titus iii. 5: "He saved us, by the washing of 
regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost." 

Here both experiences are again mentioned. If 
the two terms here used mean the same thing, then 
does the verse become a senseless repetition. Try 
it and see — " He saved us by regeneration and re- 
generation ! " 

Common sense tells us that washing is one thing 
and renewing is another. So does our religious 
experience. Lange has a striking passage on the 
different meaning and reference of the two ex- 
pressions. 

He that has had both blessings can say: "He 
has saved me by the washing of regeneration and 
by the renewing of the Holy Ghost in sanctifica- 
tion." 

Hebrews vi. i: "Therefore leaving the princi- 
ples of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto 
perfection." 

We content ourselves with four simple state- 
ments in regard to this passage, that teaches so 
powerfully the fact of the second blessing. 

First, the perfection referred to is not a divine 
or angelic state, but a condition of perfect love 
and purity and rest brought to and set up in the 
soul by the Holy Ghost. 

Again, it is made clear that regeneration does 



1 32 sajvc t I pica tion. 

not do all for us in the spiritual life, for we are 
here exhorted to come into possession of another 
and higher blessing, called perfection. 

Again, there is no indefinite and endless growth 
in grace taught by this passage ; but, on the con- 
trary, the words point plainly to a distinct and 
definite experience to which we may come, and to 
which we are urged and pressed to go. 

If there be no such place as New York or Wash- 
ington, what folly to ask me go there! And if 
there be no such experience or blessing subsequent 
to regeneration called perfection, why should I be 
urged to go on to it? 

Still again, the passage does not convey the 
thought of a long lapse of time being consumed 
necessarily before our entrance upon this blessing. 
Instead of that, Dr. Clarke says the verb teaches 
the idea of our being home on iimnedkitely into the 
experience. 

Hebrews ix. 28: ''So Christ was once offered 
to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look 
for him shall he appear the second time without sin 
unto salvation." 

I know that some will incist that this verse has 
reference to the day of judgment, and should not 
be applied to sanctification. 

In reply, I would lessen the reader's confidence 



TA UGHT IN THE NE W TES TAMENT. 1 33 

in the fact that this verse refers to the appearance 
of Christ on the judgment-day by directing him 
to the second sentence, where it says: "To them 
that look for him shall he appear." Will he not 
appear to all on that day? And does not the Bi- 
ble teach that many will not be looking for him, 
and yet he will suddenly appear to all? 

But leaving this point, which I do not stress, I 
direct the reader to the double meaning found in 
many passages of Scripture. Often we find in a 
verse a near and, back of that, a remote meaning, 
a narrow and a wider meaning, a close by and 
a far off thought. It is like seeing the blue, wavy 
outline of a distant range of mountains just ap- 
pearing over a nearer line of hills. 

In Matthew xxiv. 27 and 28 we see, first, the 
destruction of Jerusalem, and, far away beyond 
that, the end of the world. The first point of vis- 
ion is forty years off; the second outline of time is 
so distant that no one can measure it, and yet it is 
there plainly beheld. A meaning, and another 
deeper meaning! 

In I John, first chapter, and the latter part of 
the seventh verse we read: "The blood of Jesus 
Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin." 

Two meanings are buried here. To the regen- 
erated man it represents one thing; but O hov/ 



1 34 SAJVC TIFICA TION. 

much more it means to the sanctified man ! To 
the first it is the cleansing away of all sins, guilt, 
and depravity that is personal and that pertains to 
the individual; to the second it means all this, and 
the utter removal besides of inherited depravity or 
inbred sin. The soul made to rejoice constantly 
in the delightful and blessed possession of the ex- 
perience of a positive indwelling purity ! 

Two meanings, both blessed, but one so much 
deeper than the other ! 

And so with the verse under examination. To 
some, and doubtless to many, it only refers to the 
coming of Christ at the judgment. But, I bless 
God, to others, and those not a few, it has another 
and more spiritual meaning. It teaches — glory be 
to God ! — the second coming of Christ to the soul. 
This time not as the Pardoner, but as the Sancti- 
fier; this time not dealing with personal sin, but 
coming without sin unto salvation. We admit that 
it means the second coming at judgment to save 
his people, but pushing aside the veil of the first 
evident thought, climbing up on the range of the 
first teaching, lo ! we see the second and deeper 
doctrine of the verse, and that is, Christ coming 
to the soul of the believer the second time, and 
this time with a salvation from all sin, personal 
and inherited. 



TA UGHT IN THE NE W TES TAMENT. 1 35 

'*To them that look for him," shall this occur. 
If I do not believe in the doctrine of sanctification, 
I will not look for Christ to come in the office of 
Sanctifier, and so the verse will remain sealed, and 
the experience it presents be unknown. 

But to them that look for him, that seek the 
blessing of holiness, to them will Christ appear the 
second time ! 



CHAPTER XVI. 

HOW TO OBTAIN THE BLESSING OF SANCTIFICATION. 

tOTHING seems simpler to the man who has 
received the blessing than the way of holiness, 
while to the person not yet in the experience noth- 
ing is darker. One of the reasons that it is called 
*'the secret of the Lord" is that it is a hidden ex- 
perience to begin with, and it takes the Lord to re- 
veal the blessing. It is the Lord's secret. 

After he has revealed it to us we tell it to others, 
show the way we trod, and wonder that they do 
not at once enter in. We forget that once we were 
as profoundly mystified, and the whole matter 
wrapped in darkness. • 

Letters have been written to me, anxious ques- 
tionings have been propounded: ** How may I en- 
ter in?" The reply I would make to all is: 

First, you must believe that there is such a bless- 
ing. More depends upon this than one would at 
first imagine. The fact of doubt shuts me not only 
out of the blessing, but will prevent all effort to ob- 
tain it. Christ says: "According to your faith, so 
shall it be unto you." If I do not believe that 
Christ can justify, it will not be done ; and if I do 
(136) 



HOW TO OBTAIN THE BLESSING. I37 

not believe that he can sanctify, I will never reahze 
that blessed experience. 

Second, you must realize your need of this bless- 
ing. Here let me say that if the regenerated man 
who reads these lines has never felt convicted, at 
some time or times, of the necessity of having a 
perfectly pure and holy heart, then his case is 
anomalous. These convictions which are wrought 
in us by the Holy Spirit, if not acted upon, will dis- 
appear, and the Christian settles back upon a com- 
paratively low plane again. To obtain the blessing 
of a holy heart the conviction must be aroused 
again. This will be effected by a humble, prayer- 
ful waiting upon God. He that adopts Psalm 
cxxxix. 23, 24 as his petition will be amazed at 
what follows. Just as conviction preceded pardon 
and conversion, so a second and far deeper con- 
viction precedes purity, or the blessing of sanctifi- 
cation. Certainly he who is satisfied with present 
attainment, content with a life of fallings and ris- 
ings, alternate defeats and victories, states of cold- 
ness and gloom, and, above all, the presence of 
sinful tendencies in the heart, such a one will 
never come into the great blessing. 

Third, you must desire the blessing. God must 
see that you long for it supremely. This time you 
are not to enter upon service, but upon marriage. 



1 38 SAiVC riFICA TION. 

Christ is going to establish the most tender and de- 
lightful and permanent relationship. He, on this 
occasion, is going to make the heart holy, and then 
forever abide in it. In the regenerated life he was 
a wayfarer that turned in for a night, but in sanc- 
tification he is going to dwell in you, consciously, 
forever. (John xiv. 23.) He is going to give him- 
self to you in his fullness. Such a gift demands 
that your heart cry out with burning desires and 
quenchless longings. 

Fourth, you must seek for the blessing. There 
must be no idle, indolent waiting. The tarrying 
at Jerusalem was any thing but an idle one. The 
hours and days were filled with the most ardent 
seeking and importunate supplication. 

You must seek for it. Conscience must bear 
witness that you are seeking; people must see it; 
nature in the lonely grove and watchful stars must 
know it; above all, God must see that you are 
seeking the greatest blessing he has for us on 
earth. 

It must be a seeking that will not be diverted by 
any thing. The frowns and smiles of men, the 
ridicule and opposition certain to come must not 
be regarded — no, not for one moment. You must 
desire it like the man of the parable, who parted 
with all he had for the treasure in the field; and 



HOW TO OBTAIN THE BLESSING. 139 

like another, who gave up all his gems for the pearl 
of great grice. 

Fifth, you must not be discouraged. A thou- 
sand things will arise to create despondency and 
despair. You will see other people pass in before 
you. Satan will be busy with you here, but keep 
your eyes on Christ, and not the people. You 
may be troubled with fluctuations of feeling. Ex- 
perience of deadness and heaviness may possibly 
creep over you. Pay no attention to them. You 
are not sanctified by your feelings. Satan will en- 
deavor, in various ways, to darken your mind and 
sadden your heart. The dark birds of gloom, 
doubt, and despair will swoop down upon your al- 
tar; but, like Abraham, stand and keep them off, 
and wait till God sends the fire. The fire will come, 
and likewise the burning lamp. That is, the work 
will be done, and the witness given; the baptism 
and the illumination is to see and recognize. The 
fire and the lamp will both be sent. Only deter- 
mine that nothing shall discourage you, and all 
will be well. 

Sixth, consecrate yourself entirely to God. This 
is called the first step. Put every thing on the al- 
tar. Make an Appomattox surrender of yourself. 
Become God's man by solemn covenant. Turn 
over every thing to Christ that you are and have, 



1 40 SANC T I PICA TION, 

and ever expect to be and have. Give him your 
whole self. He will not accept a lesser gift. 
Christ intends giving himself in his fullness to you, 
and he demands the same thing at your hands. 
Put every faculty on the altar; place your money 
there, and your reputation and ambition. Place 
your tongue there, and your time and your influ- 
ence. If you have wronged any one, promise God 
to right that wrong, and do it. If ^^ou are at en- 
mity, first be reconciled with thy brother, then 
come with thy gift unto the altar. 

Is every thing upon the altar? If so, who is the 
altar? Paul tells you in Hebrews that it is Christ. 
What does the altar do? Glory be to God, it sanc- 
tifies the gift! See Matthew xxiii. 19. When the 
gift was laid upon the Jewish altar, it became as 
holy as the altar. Thus it is we become holy, if 
we are on our altar, Christ; if, in a word, we are 
perfectly consecrated. The word of God says 
that *' every devoted thing is most holy unto the 
Lord." Will you believe that? Will you take 
God at his word? 

Seventh, you must believe that Christ makes you 
holy right now. Faith is the second step to sanc- 
tification. Will you take that step and receive full 
salvation? If you can and will believe that the 
blood of Jesus Christ sanctifies you now, the work 



?IO W TO OB TA IN THE BLESSING. 1 4 1 

of sanctification will be done, and the glory of God 
will come upon you. ''Said I not unto thee that, 
if thou believest, thou shouldst see the glory of 

God?" 

Plant yourself on God's own word; he says that 
the altar sanctities you, that the blood cleanses and 
makes you holy. You do not say this ; the preach- 
er did not originate the speech ; it is the word of 
the Lord ! Then believe that word ; receive it in 
your heart; say, '* I am sanctified by the blood, 
because Christ says so;" and hold on with un- 
moved confidence until the witness comes. The 
witness will come and will not tarry where the 
soul is consecrated and the heart exercises a pres- 
ent appropriating faith. It will rush to and settle 
upon your faith like the dove-like Spirit swept 
down upon the Saviour. It is bound to come be- 
cause of the divine faithfulness and in fulfillment of 
the divine promise. 

But have I a right to say that Christ sanctifies me 
before the witness is given? Can I dare to say, 
will I be able to say that the blood makes me holy 
before the experience is set up in my soul? 

To this I reply that if you are conscious of a per- 
fect consecration (and your own spirit will always 
witness to that fact), then you can say that the 
blood cleanses, and believe it, because God gives 



142 SA NC T I PICA TION. 

the perfectly consecrated man the right to say it. 
*' Every devoted thing is most holy." " The altar 
sanctifies the gift." 

The instant I believe it and say it, that instant 
the work is done. The Bible says: *'With the 
heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with 
the mouth confession is made unto salvation." I 
must so believe that I will be willing to confess 
and proclaim, and then salvation in its fullness 
comes. This is the order: heart and mouth. 
Many have failed here. Many have had the belief, 
but refused to speak. Felt powerfully moved to 
do so, but from a sudden timorousness, a sudden 
false humility, a swift temptation from Satan, they 
shrunk back into silence and missed the salvation 
that was ready to be poured, in all its richness, full- 
ness, and blessedness, into the soul. 

I can recall two cases of recent date when the 
consecration had been made and the faith was 
born in the heart, and the Spirit of God with 
mighty pressure urged them to arise and claim and 
own the blessing. They could with difficult}^ keep 
silence, so great was the inward movement and im- 
pulse of the Holy Ghost upon them to speak. In 
both cases they shrunk back, and in both cases 
have I witnessed since a rapidly weakening faith 
and an unmistakable lapse in the spiritual life. 



HO W TO OBTAIN THE BLESSING. 143 

It is no presumption to believe what God asserts, 
and to proclaim what God declares. But it is pre- 
sumption and sin besides to refuse to believe God's 
word, and be afraid to repeat what he affirms. 

He that is conscious that he is not a perfectly 
consecrated man should not dare to say that he is 
made holy; but he who knows in the depths of 
his soul, and thrilling along every fiber of his be- 
ing, that he is on the altar — bound, handed over, 
and devoted to the Lord — cannot only say, "The 
blood sanctifies me now," but should say so with- 
out a moment's delay. 

*K lady in Alabama very recently, in obedience 
to the instruction of a minister, placed every thing 
on the altar. When she had done so the preach- 
er, standing over her, said: "My sister, do you 
know who the altar is?" She replied: "Yes, it 
is the Lord Jesus Christ!" The minister re- 
joined: "The word of God says that the altar 
sanctifies the gift. Will you believe this ? Do you 
believe that Christ makes you holy right now?" 
She answered, after the pause of a moment, "I 
do ! " and instantly the refining fire of God did its 
work, and her soul was sanctified. 

I read once this story of the first Napoleon : His 
horse had become affrighted and was dashing 
down the lines beyond the control of the rider, 



144 SANCTIFICA TION. 

-when suddenly a common soldier darted from the 
ranks, and, flinging himself on the horse's neck, 
caught the reins, checked the animal, and placed 
the bridle in the emperor's hand. With a smile of 
appreciation, Napoleon said: *' Thank }'0U, cap- 
tain?" As instantly did the soldier reply: "Of 
what regiment, sire?" And the emperor's re- 
ply, as he swept on, was: "The Old Guard." 
What a wonderful appropriating faith the man 
had! 

Do you know what many people who read these 
lines would have replied when the emperor said : 
" Thank you, captain^" They would have said: 
"You make a great mistake, sire! I am no cap- 
tain ; I am nothing but a poor soldier — a wretched, 
obscure private marching in the rear ranks, and 
will doubtless die in the rear ranks." 

This is the way many do in the spiritual life, 
and is the explanation of their never coming into 
the higher life. 

God says to them: " The blood cleanses you; 
Christ makes you holy." "O no!" they reply, 
"not me; I cannot be holy; the blood cannot 
purify me; I can never be but what I am — a poor, 
halting, repining, imperfect follower of the Lord." 
And they never do ; because they will not believe 
the word of the Lord. In the rear ranks they 



HOW TO OBTAIN THE BLESSING. 1 45 

stay, when they could be a power in the cohorts 
of heaven if they would take God at his word. 

Would that the faith of this soldier in the word 
of a man might shame or inspire us into at least 
an equal faith in the word of God ! 

'* Thank you, captain!" "Of what regiment, 
sire?" is the lightning-like response of the soldier. 
And immediately, the story runs, he walked to the 
Old Guard and took his position as an officer; and 
in reply to the indignant protest of the colonel, as 
to what he did there, said: "I am a captain." 
*' Who said so? " was the colonel's inquiry. And 
the triumphat rejoinder of the promoted soldier, as 
he pointed to the emperor, was: ''He said so! " 

My brother, if you are on the altar, God says 
you are a holy man. 

As he says so, believe it, and immediately take 
your position in the " inheritance of them that are 
sanctified." 

In reply to all gainsayers and fault-finders who 
rise against your profession and life, saying there 
is no such thing as a holy heart and life, and that 
they doubt your experience and deny your claim, 
simply point to the Saviour and reply calmly, but 
triumphantly: '* He said so ! " 

But why is it that we see cases of individuals 
who affirm that they possess this faith, and yet do 
10 



1 4^ SANC T I PICA TION. 

not obtain the witness of the blessing? In many 
instances the failure arises because of a defective 
consecration. All is not given up to God. There 
has not been a total surrender of life and property 
and family and reputation and will. There is 
mental reservation somewhere. The tongue is not 
on the altar, some one is hated in the heart, some 
wrong has not been righted, some confession has 
not been made, some duty remains undischarged. 

Of course, if the heart be wrong in all these mat- 
ters, the heavenly fire will not fall. The dove will 
not alight on a carcass. The Holy Spirit wdll not 
descend upon and make as his home and resting- 
place a disobedient and impure heart. A perfect 
consecration is the mother of a beautiful child — 
viz., a perfect faith. At the end of the rod of 
consecration faith buds, blooms, and bears fruit. 
While I will not say that consecration can evolve 
faith, inasmuch as faith is a distinct exercise of the 
soul, yet I firmly believe they never are and never 
can be long separated. Indeed, so near are they 
at times as to seem almost one act of the soul. 

In other instances we see people who sa}^ they 
are walking by faith, and y^\. never receive the 
witness, and sadder still, gradually get farther and 
farther from the blessing. 

The explanation in this case is that what they 



HO W TO OB TAIN THE BLESSING. 1 47 

regard as faith is nothing but a spirit of listless- 
ness and apathy. Instead of believing, they have 
really ceased to believe. The ceasing to seek for 
and to expect possession of the pearl of great price, 
shoves the decay of faith. Theirs is not the rest of 
faith, but the slumber of indolence, and a virtual 
giving up of the struggle. 

They are easily recognized. The face growls 
cloudy, the fervor of prayer departs, the attitude 
of pressing forv^ard is gone; they have evidently 
paused in the race. 

A real faith pants with the desire for holiness. 
While it rests on the word of God, it does not rest 
from its striving to enter in through the strait gate. 
It continues to knock. Like Esther, it stands be- 
fore the throne; and, though mute of lip at times, 
yet is it full of wistful pleadings of heart, and 
never so beautiful in the eyes of the King of 
heaven. 

It rests on the word of God; but its eyes are 
fixed upon the skies, awaiting the second coming 
of the Lord Jesus to the soul; this time the com- 
ing without sin unto salvation. 

There are other cases where all are puzzled to 
account for the failure. The parties say that the 
consecration is perfect, that they are steadily seek- 
ing the blessing by faith, that they claim it now by 



140 SAIVC T I PICA TION. 

faith, and yet they have not the gospel treasure, 
the holy secret of the Lord. 

This much we must say: that God is faithful. 
If we receive not that which God has promised, 
the explanation is to be found in some failure on 
our part to comply with divine requirements and 
conditions. 

The general cause is known to all under the 
words defective faith and consecration; the par- 
ticular reason for failure is known to the man only 
and to his God. But at the judgment-day ail will 
know the unbelief, or the secret sin, that kept a 
child of God from coming into the possession of a 
holy heart, and living a holy life. 



CHAPTER XVII. ! 

CERTAIN DIFFICULTIES EXPLAINED. 

t MINISTER, a gentleman of culture and 
piety, who had been moved by the writer's 
experience, but who was still unsatisfied and per- 
plexed in mind about the mode of obtaining the 
blessing, wrote, asking the following questions: 
**Your experience has renewed my aspirations 
for the attainment of what John Wesley called 
the * grand depositum of Methodism/ There 
is, however, one point in your narrative at which 
I stumble. Perhaps you can remove the stum- 
bling-block, and in helping me help others also. 
You say: 'I believed the work was done before 
the witness was given.' This you did for three 
days, and then the baptism of fire came upon your 
soul. Now w^ith me it is impossible to distinguish 
the fact of sanctification from the witness. Both 
sanctification and the witness of sanctification are 
matters of consciousness. Does God count me 
sanctified before I am sanctified? Can I believe 
that he sanctified me before I am conscious of the 
fact that I am sanctified? Can I really be sancti- 
fied before the baptism of fire, which you call the 

(149) 



1 50 . SANC T I PICA TION. 

witness, goes through my nature and destro3's the 
*body of sin?' If I believe I am sanctified be- 
fore I am conscious of the fact, do I not make be- 
lief in a falsehood the condition of obtaining the 
great blessing? Here I stumble." 

To this I replied as follows: " If I tell you that 
I suffered intensely where you are now being tried, 
and that I have found light where at first there was 
profound darkness, and where 3'ou to-day only see 
darkness, I trust you will not think that I am arro- 
gating to myself any thing whatever. Indeed, as 
you read on you will discover that I place myself 
properly in a lowly place in the kingdom of grace. 
Indeed, it was because of m}^ conscious weakness 
and helplessness that I found what some have not 
yet discovered. For if a diamond be lost in the 
dust, it is not the man whose eyes are on the stars 
that will see it, but the man who has bowed body 
and face close to the ground. I thank God that 
salvation is not placed high &.bove us, and beyond 
reach, but very nigh to us, and low down, so that 
a little child, and indeed a fool may lay hand upon 
it and be enriched. It is so with pardon and re- 
generation, and it is so with entire sanctification. 

*'The doors of the sweet experiences of regen- 
eration and entire sanctification do not fly back at 
the touch of the hand of the metaphvsician, for 



CERTAIN DIFFICULTIES EXPLAINED. 151 

several reasons. One is that the great mass of 
people on earth are not learned or trained in the 
laws of mental life ; and if the reception of bless- 
ings were dependent upon the apprehension of syl- 
logisms and recognition of certain great principles 
of mental science, the race would be lost. An- 
other reason that occurs to me why the door of 
grace opens not to the touch of the reasoner is 
that salvation is above reason. It was not con- 
ceived by man, nor is it understood by lordly in- 
tellects to-day. I have often been struck with two 
expressions in the Bible. One is that the wisdom 
of God is foolishness to men, and the other that 
the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. It 
is noteworthy that the gospel came down to us 
through the air to Bethlehem, and not through the 
brains of the scribes and learned members of the 
Sanhedrim. 

*' The point I would humbly make is that what 
may appear irreconcilable in the realm of meta- 
physics may be perfectly harmonized in the realm 
of grace. For instance: Mathematics would say 
that it is impossible for three to be one, and one to 
be three, and yet this impossible thing is the glory 
of heaven in the fact of the Trinity. 

"- May not, my dear brother, the difficulties you 
mention in your letter, and which appear in the 



1 5 2 SANC TIFICA TION. 

clipping above, exist only in your mind? May not 
God's thoughts be higher than our thoughts, and 
his ways not as our ways? 

" Here I am to-day thrilled with this * secret of 
the Lord,' the declaration or confession of which 
has brought upon me attacks from man}^ directions, 
saving your kindly and courteous pen. As I read 
the arguments turned against my experience from 
high quarters, there are three things that sustain 
me and keep me perfectly calm and assured 
through it all. One is the perpetual witness of the 
Holy Ghost to the fact of my sanctification (Fleb. 
X. 14, 15); another, the work itself done by him, 
(i Thess. V. 23, 24); and the third is the recollec- 
tion of a verse uttered by the Saviour: 'I thank 
thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that 
thou hast hid these things from the wise and pru- 
dent, and hast revealed them unto babes.^ (Luke 
X. 21.) This verse explains why I have obtained 
that which nobler, better, wiser men have not re- 
ceived. I came to God as a little child in seeking 
the blessing of sanctification. I reasoned not, 
even as a child does not reason. I created no 
mental difficulties. I never went near Sir Will- 
iam Hamilton nor any like him. T knew the work 
was above his and all other human intellects. It 
was a part of the mystery the angels studied and 



CERTAIN DIFFIC UL TIES EXPLAINED. 1 53 

could not fathom. I went not to books written by 
ancient or modern authors on the subject. / went 
to God! The Bible said he could do it, and would 
do it, and, better than either, that if I believed, he 
did it then ! I simply believed God — I took him 
at his word ! 

**Now for the suggested difficulty: * How,' I 
am asked in substance, * can I believe that the 
work of sanctification is accomplished until I re- 
ceive the witness that it is done? And if I believe 
I am sanctified before I am made conscious of the 
fact, do I not make belief in a falsehood the con- 
dition of obtaining the great blessing?' These 
questions at first seem to possess great weight. 
They have troubled many, and will agitate many 
more. They gather about the real heart and cen- 
ter of the whole question. He that tarries here to 
settle this will never go farther. He that ap- 
proaches the difficulty as a little child will find 
that there is no difBculty ; that there is no problem 
of Methodism for him to solve: that the Father 
has given the solution to the humble, child-like 
man of unquestioning faith. 

*' But let me first say that the question cannot but . 
surprise me. Just a glance reveals the fact that it 
reverses the order God observes in the work of 
salvation. God's order is first faith, then the 



1 54 SAJVC TIFICA TION. 

work, and last the feeling. In 3'our question 3'ou 
ask how can 3-ou believe that you are sanctified 
until you are made conscious of the fact. Look 
at the question closely, and you will observe that 
your order is, first, feeling; second, the work; and 
last, the faith, which is the direct reverse of God's 
method of doing. Virtually, you say that if God 
sends you a certain feeling or consciousness, that 
he has done a certain work in you, that then you 
will believe. 

**My dear brother, is it not evident that, what- 
ever may be the procuring cause of the blessing 
to you, according to your plan it cannot be faith? 
for faith with you is put last. You will believe 
if you feel that the work is done. Let me ask 
you: Who could not stand on such an easy plat- 
form as this? Surely anybody could admit the 
fact of a work done by the Saviour when great 
tokens of emotion are given at the moment. A 
great multitude, I fancy, stand ready to be saved 
on such terms. Millions are read}^ to say: * If 
God gives certain emotions or experiences de- 
claring his work, then will we believe.' But 
where appears the faith in such a salvation? 
Don't we see that it is no longer faith, but 
knowledge ? Don't we see that the demand here 
to God is, ' Let me know, and I will believe,' 



CERTAIN DIFFIC UL TIES EXPLAINED. I <^^ 

while God says: * Believe, and ye shall know?' 
If any thing, my dear brother, thrills you through 
and through, it is when a man believes your quiet 
statement of a fact, and asks for no proof, while 
at the same time many things are operating to 
produce doubt in the mind. And so I believe if 
God ever stands thrilled in heaven it is when a 
man takes him at his word, and goes on believing 
it in spite of an emotionless heart, and in spite of 
contradicting men and devils, and in face of the 
fact that there is no sign or witness from heaven 
that the life is observed or the faith accepted. 

*'This is faith worthy of the name. No sight 
or feeling about this. This is what I call dry faith; 
though, I bless God, it does not stay dry long. 
It fairly drips with grace, if cherished and kept 
in the heart a few hours or days. Such a faith 
Abraham had when he went out not knowing 
w^hither he went. Some one says about him that 
' he walked out into empty space on the naked 
promise of Almighty God ! ' Such a faith the 
centurion had when he asked Christ to heal his 
servant. Christ replied: 'I will.' On this word 
the Roman soldier rested; even said there was no 
need for Christ to come to his house; that his 
word was sufficient to heal the servant at a dis- 
tance. This v/as one of the times that Christ was 



156 SANCTIFICATION. 

thrilled. The Bible says: * He marveled, and said 
to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I 
have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.' 
The centurion held on by dry faith ; the servant 
was distant; the healing took place out of sight; 
and yet, without a single sign from heaven, with 
nothing but the word of Christ, he went home, be- 
lieving the servant was well ; and w^hen he arrived 
found that he was restored. That he had this 
faith appears in Matthew viii. 13. 

''Now, God says in his word that if I perfectly, 
unreservedly, and forever consecrate myself to 
him I shall be made holy by the altar on which I 
have placed myself. He says that the altar sancti- 
fies, that the blood cleanses, and right now; that 
the instant I believe it the work is done ! Will I 
believe it? Will I take God's word, and rise up 
after a perfect consecration and say it is done. 
The battle rages right at this point ; defeat or vic- 
tory must come right here. Let no man say there 
is no such thing as a second work or cleansing by 
the Holy Ghost, unless he has thoroughly tested 
the virtue of the faith that is here presented. Have 
you cast yourself upon this faith as Peter flung 
himself upon the waves? If not, you have failed 
to do what others of us have done, and, as a con- 
sequence, are without an experience that is to-day 



CER TAIN DIFFIC UL TIES EXPLAINED. 1 5 7 

thrilling us as the greatest fact of our lives. It 
won't do to question here. The instant a mental 
debate starts, the instant the words ' why ' and 
* how ' appear, the instant the ps}xhology of sanc- 
tification is dwelt upon — that instant the glory is 
lifted, the mysterious Being whom I felt to be in 
my arms is gone, and my hands are left grasping 
at empty air. Such debate and questionings of 
mind come with a poor grace from us who believe 
that even in conversion regeneration is one thing, 
and the witness of the Spirit another; that not in- 
frequently the divine testimony is withheld for 
weeks and months. Just as clearly do I recognize 
that the work of sanctification is one thing, and the 
witness to the work another. The two may be 
separated, as in the case of regeneration. But you 
ask the question : ' If I beheve I am sanctified be- 
fore I am conscious of the fact, do I not make bs- 
lief in a falsehood the condition of obtaining the 
great blessing?' 

*' Your trouble here was once my trouble; my 
soul was in an agony over it. As a difficulty it is 
insuperable until you discover that God does not 
condition the bestowal of a blessing on us by a pre- 
ceding or accompanying act of consciousness upon 
our part. I fail to see in his word where he states 
that my consciousness of the fact affects in any 



1 5^ SANC TIFICA riON. 

way the work of sanctification. Instead of this I 
am simply required, after a perfect consecration 
of myself, to believe that the w^ork is done. 
The servant is distant; no messenger has as yet 
reached me; but I believe he is healed, because 
Christ says so. My faith rests not upon any men- 
tal condition of my own, or any play of emotion, 
but upon the simple statement of God that I am 
sanctified. There can be no falsehood about the 
matter. The man casts the whole thing on God, 
and it is the divine faithfulness and honor and 
truth that are involved. It is idle to say that the 
man may be deceived in regard to his exercise of 
faith. Every man knows when he really believes. 
Peter knew the moment when he flung himself 
upon the water, and just as clearly does the soul 
recognize the critical instant when, forsaking all 
other help, turning from every other hope and con- 
fidence, it lets go every earthly hold, and leaps or 
drops in the arms of Christ. Blessed be God ! no 
one ever did this in vain. Even here I am not re- 
quired to look to my consciousness, or to any con- 
ceivable experience, but quietly to go on believing 
that God has done the work. But must we not 
pray for the witness to our sanctification? Un- 
doubtedly; but we must not forget that the work 
is one thing, and the witness another; so we walk 



CERTAIN DIFFIC UL TIES EXPLAINED. 1 59 

in faith until God is pleased to send the testimony. 
I do not know how it strikes you, but to me it 
seems that there could be no more acceptable faith 
to God than this, which takes God at his word, 
and goes on without a disturbing doubt. 

" I cannot but claim for God, on the part of his 
children, the same unhesitating, unquestioning be- 
lief and obedience that I have seen rendered by 
sons and daughters to an earthly parent. God 
says a thing; I believe God! It was this, and 
nothing but this, that caused the Lord to say of 
Abraham: ' He is my friend.' 

*' I am confident that some sharp-eyed reader will 
point out an apparent discrepancy in my experi- 
ence. For instance: I said that I believed the 
work was done in my soul before I received the 
witness; that in this faith I walked two days; and 
' yet that .on the morning of the third day I felt the 
work of sanctification. 

"This is only an apparent difficulty. It is not a 
real contradiction, unless some one can show that 
God cannot do a work in us apart from our con- 
sciousness, or that he is under necessity to reveal 
himself simultaneously with his performance. I 
believed with all my heart for two days that God 
had sanctified me, because he said so. In this 
faith I walked unwaveringly until the morning 



1 60 SA NC T I PICA TION. 

spoken of in my experience, when suddenly and 
powerfully God gave me the witness of his work, or 
the proof that the blood had cleansed me from all 
sin, and that my heart was pure. 

" In a recent visit to Georgia I was informed of 
a case strikingly illustrative. It was that of a 
young man who, after having made \he ;pci'fect con- 
secration demanded by the Bible, believed that the 
blood of Christ did then and there cleanse him 
from all sin. He was without feeling; but he re- 
membered that we are not saved by feeling, but by 
faith ; and so lived on the first day, clinging to God's 
word about the matter, as a man m mid-ocean 
would cling to a spar. Some one saw him shake 
his head in a peculiar, positive way in church. One 
sitting near him heard him say at the same mo- 
ment: * The blood does sanctify me.' Later in 
the day he was approached by a friend, who ' 

asked: 'Brother , how are you feeling?' 

His reply was: * I have no feeling; but I know 
that Jesus sanctifies my soul, because he said so.' 
Next day he saw an unfriendly critic observing 
him in the congregation ; again came the positive 
movement of the head, with the murmured words: 
'He does cleanse me from all sin.' To sympa- 
thetic and anxious Christian friends his constant 
statement was: ' No feeling; but perfect faith that 



CERTAIN DIFFICULTIES EXPLAINED, i6j 

the blood cleanses me now.'' Thus he walked for 
several days by * dry faith,' when one morning, as 
a friend started to put the usual question, suddenly 
he cried out in tones that thrilled beyond all de- 
scription : ' O glory ! glory ! my soul cannot con- 
tain the joy and blessedness it feels ! ' The witness 
had come; as, indeed, it will always come to the 
man who takes God at his word. 

" Why is it that so many seek this blessing for 
months without obtaining it? Because they put 
the work in the future; they place the fulfillment 
of the promise to some remote time, when God 
says 7ww! and demands that our faith shall say 
now! 

"My brother, are you a perfectly consecrated 
man ! If so, then in the name of Jesus of Naza- 
reth rise up and say: ' His blood cleanseth me now 
from all sin,' and walk in that faith. Let it be a 
dry faith. I tell you that it will not remain dry 
long. The balm of Gilead — the very dews of heav- 
en — and the anointing of the Holy Ghost will de- 
scend, and cannot but descend, upon a faith that 
takes God at his word. The disciples held on ten 
days ; cannot you wait in prayer and dry faith that 
long? Don't read books opposed to the doctrine; 
they will chill your faith and divert you from the 
blessing? Would you advise a penitent to read 
11 



1 63 SANC TIFICA TION. 

skeptical books before coming to Christ? The 
principle is identical. Some godly men are skep- 
tical in regard to instantaneous sanctification. 
Don't read their works until you are sanctified; 
then you can read with a smile, in calmness of 
spirit, and without hurt to yourself. We can then 
peruse the ninth chapter of John with an apprecia- 
tion never felt before. Instead of the books re- 
ferred to, search a famous old Book which, ad- 
dressing converted men and women, says: * This 
is the will of God, even your sanctification,' and 
adds: 'Faithful is he that calleth you, who also 
will do it.' 

*' Don't listen to men who deny and oppose in 
various ways this experience. How can they speak 
advisedly and correctly of what they have never 
felt? Their confessed ignorance of the experience 
disqualifies them here as instructors and leaders, no 
matter how wise and good and excellent they may 
be as Christian men and ministers. How can a 
man lead in a way which he has never trod ? 

"And now I leave these words with you and with 
other readers to whom I have mainly addressed them 
through you. Would that they were clearer, strong- 
er, and worthier words for your sake and the sake 
of God's people, for whom I would gladly lay down 
my life to bring them into this blessing, this deliv- 



CER TAIN DIFFIC UL TIES EXPLAINED. 1 63 

erance and rest, this tender and yet steadfast grace 
that Paul speaks of so frequently and assuredly, 
and with such an accent of rejoicing and triumph. 
See Romas v. 2; 2 Corinthians i. 15. 

" Let me call your attention to the fact that when 
Carvosso received the blessing he was saying: 'I 
shall have the blessing nozv! ' If he had said ' to- 
morrow,' he would not have entered into rest. Be 
assured that we can never err by believing too 
much in God's word, especially when that word is 
a promise coming directly to us. To doubt is to 
dishonor God; to believe is to honor and glorify 
him. 

"Let us hear the Saviour: 'Therefore I say 
unto you, what things soever ye desire, when ye 
pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall 
have them.' 'Lord, increase our faith.' " 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

WHAT SANCTIFICATION HAS SHOWN ME, DONE FOR 
ME, AND IS TO ME STILL AFTER MANY DAYS. 

A YEAR ago the writer received the blessing of 
entire sanctification. He at once proclaimed 
it publicly with tongue and pen, as he -formerly 
had declared his conversion. The same motives 
prompted him in both instances: First, to glorify 
God; second, to bring others into the same blessed 
experience. The new-found blessing was prompt- 
ly denied by a number of ministers living at a dis- 
tance from the home of the writer. 

In recalling the two great spiritual events, or ex- 
periences, of his life — viz., his conversion and his 
sanctification — the writer has been led to notice a 
strange resemblance, and yet dissimilarity, in con- 
nection with these great spiritual epochs. His con- 
version was doubted by the w^orldly, but believed 
in by the Church ; while his sanctification was 
doubted by the Church, but believed in by the 
world. 

It has struck him as a curious fact that the atti- 
tude of the Church and the world is identical, as 
they stand confronting these two great w^orks of 
(164) 



ITS CONTINUED PRESENCE. 165 

God in the human soul. The unbehef of the world 
reveals itself toward regeneration, and the unbehef 
of the Church manifests itself toward sanctification. 
The world doubts an instantaneous conversion, 
and the Church to-day denies instantaneous sanc- 
tification. 

The one doubts the power of the blood to par- 
don ; the other, its ability to make holy. Both stag- 
ger at the promise of God ; both hmit the efficacy 
of the blood. The world looks to reformation, the 
Church to growth in grace, or the purifying power 
of time. Both look away from the blood to some- 
thing connected with the flight of years, or a fight 
with self. Forgotten is the earnest warning of 
Paul: " Having begun in the Spirit, are ye made 
perfect by the flesh?" How happy is Satan to see 
the attention of men directed away from the only 
thing that can cleanse iromall sin, and bring holi- 
ness to the heart and life ! How perfectly willing 
he is to see us emphasize morals and spiritual man- 
ners and development and growth and the effect of 
time, provided we will not proclaim and believe 
and test the blood that makes whiter than snow. 

This fact of unbelief existing where you would 
least expect it constitutes one of the first experi- 
ences of a sanctified man. As he stands in the 
midst of his brethren with his heart all aglow and 



1 ^^ SANC TIFICA TION. 

his spirit aflame with this greatest of blessings; as 
he testifies to the new-found treasure ; as he looks 
into the wondering, doubting, half-amused counte- 
nances of the brethren, he passes into and through 
an experience never to be forgotten. He sees that, 
while they regard him as a sincere man, yet they 
evidently suppose that he is laboring under a delu- 
sion; that he has mistaken some sudden emotion 
for a great distinctive work of God; and that, 
therefore, his words are as idle tales. As he takes 
this in he is forcibly reminded of the same mental 
attitude, the same expression of countenance, the 
same unbelief that greeted him when he proclaimed 
his conversion to men and w^omen of the world. 

The writer will never forget the look of an un- 
converted man w^hen he declared to him the fact of 
his conversion ; nor is he likely to forget the look 
of some Christians when he told them that God had 
sanctified him. The vision was the same. 

Here, then, is the first thing shown or revealed 
by sanctification — viz., the unbelief of the Church 
in regard to the blood of the Son of God. 

Another fact revealed by sanctification, and that 
soon forces itself upon the consciousness, is that 
there is a gulf between those that enjoy this bless- 
ing and those that possess it not and believe not in 
it. Neither one dug the chasm. They both find 



ITS CONTINUED PRESENCE. 167 

themselves wondering at its sudden revealment. 
By and by some cease to wonder as they perceive 
that it exists because of spiritual conditions; that 
just as a valley will always be found between two 
mountains, so will two great, separate, distinct 
works of grace create between them a chasm, hard 
to describe, but none the less forcibly recognized. 

The Christian with the blessing of sanctification 
knows that he has seen Christ in a light and felt 
Christ's power in a way that the other has not. 

The doubter of the blessing views the sanctified 
brother with a variety of emotions and opinions. 
Among them we discover suspicion, pity, disap- 
proval — even aversion — and the strong conviction 
that the brother is deluded, misled by excitement, 
and is bordering upon fanaticism, if not rapidly ap- 
proaching insanity. 

The gulf is there. The parties are conscious of 
it, and observers notice it. How can there help be- 
ing one when the solemn asseveration of an instan- 
taneous purification of the soul by faith in the blood 
of Christ is looked upon by the Church either as a 
fond delusion or, worse still, as a piece of boastful 
arrogance? 

This itself is sufficient to create the gulf, and 
does, sad as it is to say. And yet never did the 
sanctified man love his regenerated brother as ten- 



1 68 6V1 NC riFI C. 1 77 ON. 

derly as now when, under the light of the new 
blessing, he takes note of the strange separation 
between them. The hps of this gulf can only be 
closed by the Church coming into possession of the 
blessing. The sanctified man who endeavors to 
bridge over this gulf by coming down to a former 
religious plane, by eUminating the characteristics 
of a life of holiness from his own life, or by silence 
in regard to the blessing itself, will do so at his peril. 

God only can annihilate this chasm by bringing 
us all into the same blessed experience of perfect 
love. May the Pentecost of the Church, even 
sahctification, be restored to Zion ! and then will it 
be said of us, as once of the disciples : ' ' They were 
all of one mind and one heart." 

The experience of sanctification has revealed a 
third fact. This time we discover that the Church 
will listen with great placidity of mind to the doc- 
trine of holiness when presented as a distant at- 
tainment through growth, but when held as a pres- 
ent ohtainment by faith there is both confusion 
and indignation in Israel. It is all well for the 
preacher to urge his people to pray for and strive 
after a pure heart and a state of holiness; but the 
instant he announces that he has the blessing so 
long prayed, wished, and striven for, that Christ 
has purified the heart, that "the God of peace has 



ITS CONTINUED PRESENCE. 169 

sanctified him wholly," then there is heard on all 
sides, both in private and public, disapprovals and 
condemnations of such a claim and assumption. 

We read in the book of Acts that the Church 
prayed day and night for the release of Peter from 
prison; and when, in answer to prayer, God set 
him at liberty; and he stood knocking at the door 
where and when this very prayer-meeting was be- 
ing held, that the Church refused to believe it was 
Peter. 

So the Church of to-day has been supplicating 
for holiness, and crying out from every pulpit and 
pew: ''Create within us clean hearts, O God;" 
but lo ! when God answers, and the man delivered 
from all indwelling sin stands before the congre- 
gation, testifying that "the Son hath made him free 
indeed," that the clean heart so long prayed for 
by the Church has been given, the Church refuses 
positively to believe it. Peter is left knocking at 
the door. They refuse to believe in him, and 
quietly pay no attention to his knock. And no 
matter what bright-faced Rhoda fervently declares 
that it is so, and that the brother is free and blessed 
as he says, it fails to affect and change their judg- 
ment. 

As the case stands to-day, it does seem to the 
writer that certain congregations in the land should 



1 7° SANC T I PICA TION. 

either change their prayer, "Create in us clean 
hearts, O God," or alter their faith, and so be 
ready to recognize the blessing they pray for when 
it comes. 

So much for what sanctification has shown. 
Now for what it has done and is still doing for the 
writer. 

First, it has quenched an un-Christ-like ambi- 
tion. It makes one willing to be overlooked and 
unknown. The fever for place and prominence is 
taken out. The eye is not fixed on certain honors 
and promotions and appointments to high places. 
A light stealing in has -either revealed the unsatis- 
factoriness of these things, or a life filling the nat- 
ure gives the soul something better to think of and 
strive after. 

All dreamings in this direction are ended. The 
prayer now and the hope is not for the "right 
hand and the left hand" of power, but to be where 
Mary sat — at the feet of Jesus. 

Second, it has reconciled the soul, with scarcely 
a struggle, to the growing coldness and falling 
away of friends. Losses that would have over- 
powered in the regenerated life fail to move the 
sanctified soul. 

The experience is incredible until entered upon. 
But no inconsolable agony finds entrance in this 



ITS CONTINUED PRESENCE, I 7 1 

life. There is an ever-present balm that, instant- 
ly applied, heals and reconciles the heart to the 
loss before the tears have had time to fall upon the 
cheek. 

As Christ saw great numbers leave him when he 
preached his most spiritual doctrines, and beheld 
it with calmness of mind and without a word, so is 
it with the sanctified man. No matter who leaves, 
he is calm, and can say: ''None of these things 
move me." 

The writer has often been struck with the itch and 
fever of some people for company. They cannot 
bear to be alone. Solitude is an affliction to them. 

Certainly all will agree that where three are pres- 
ent there will not be a sense of solitude and lone- 
liness. But does the reader realize that there is a 
promised relief from all loneliness in the blessing 
of sanctification? and that the constant presence 
of three persons is the explanation? 

In John xiv. 23 the promise is: ''We [/. e.^ 
the Father and Son] will come unto you, and will 
take up our abode with you." This, as shown 
in Chapter VIII., is one of the peculiar promises 
of sanctification. With that constant abiding in 
the soul of the Father and the Son, and with their 
unbroken and delightful communion, how can there 
be weariness and loneliness? 



1 7 2 SANC TIFICA TION. 

Blessed be God ! the crowning work of sanctifi- 
cation is its undying freshness of experience, born 
of the presence of this heavenly company in the 
soul. 

It matters not who goes out of the life, if they re- 
main there is bound to be joy. And so Madame 
Guyon in prison, and St. John in Patmos, and all 
others in the deep enjoyment of this blessing, 
scarcely knew the pain of loneliness, and lived on 
unmoved in the face of a thousand estrangements 
and desertions. 

Third, it has saved him from all irritability of 
temper and disposition. Regeneration saved him 
from giving vent to it in speech and act, but did 
not eliminate the dark, disturbing spirit from the 
heart. Sanctification, glory be to God I has done 
this blessed interior work. The hot, impatient 
flush, the quick-nettled feeling, the hasty impulse 
to angry speech, the gun-powdery expression of 
thought and word — all have been taken away in a 
moment of time by the blessed Son of God. The 
man in the enjoyment of such a deliverance will 
read John viii. 36 with a gladness and apprecia- 
tion that he never did before : " If the Son therefore 
shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." 
This was a promise made not to sinners, but to 
Christians. 



ITS CONTINUED PRESENCE. 173 

The writer hears many pleas put in for nervous- 
ness; but he is deeply suspicious of the word 
*' nervousness." It looks like it is made to spell 
'* irritability " — it looks like a synonym of bad 
temper. It is used sometimes as a cloak for an- 
ger. A number of people have approached the 
writer, and, with a deprecatory voice, said: " May 
I not be allowed to be nervous if I am sanctified? " 
It actually looks like they were pleading for the 
privilege of being under the thralldom of disease. 
The writer saw deeper, and beheld the door open 
for retreat, or, to change the figure, saw in the 
word " nervousness" the fig-leaf that was to cover 
moral nakedness and spiritual deformity. 

The reply to all such is that nervousness is one 
thing and irritability another; that one has its root 
in the body, the other in the soul; that all nerv- 
ousness that manifests itself in a cross, impatient, 
and angry spirit is to be suspected, arrested, con- 
demned, and transported as a forger and impostor, 
into the penitentiary domains of actual sin. 

Nor must this fact be overlooked — that pure 
nervousness itself is graciously affected by the 
sanctified life. The quiet spirit imparts a restful- 
ness even to the body. 

Every regenerated man knows the sets of circum- 
stances that conspire to produce irritability. The 



174 SAJVC TIFICA TION. 

coming home wearied and hungry, the aching head, 
the noisy children, the absent servant, the delayed 
meal, the fireless grate, the general influence of a 
cold, cloudy, rainy day, or a day of sweltering pow- 
er. Here is a battle-field indeed. And here many 
a regenerated man goes down in temporary defeat. 
And here is the easy victory of the sanctified. 
What a state is that in which a man is kept sweet- 
spirited, calm, and gentle in heart and voice in the 
midst of multiplied annoyances ! 

Fourth, the blessing has hidden the soul from 
the strife of tongues. In Psalms xxxi. 20 such 
an experience is promised. Often has the eye 
read the word while we wondered w^hat it meant. 
Experience has revealed the mystery. Sanctifica- 
tion places the soul where it is kept undisturbed. 
It is housed in a pavilion of peculiar grace. The 
murmur of fault-finding, detracting, ridiculing 
tongues is heard, but the curtains of that pavilion, 
the atmosphere of that hiding-place, have strangely 
taken from the tongues the power to afflict or 
make miserable. You can be perfectly aware of 
the circulation of unkind statements, even slan- 
ders, and yet be kept full of quiet and peace all the 
while. 

Fifth, the blessing puts an end to uneasiness and 
apprehension about the future, especially that un- 



ITS CONTINUED PRESENCE. i75 

easiness in regard to the appointments of Con- 
ference. The writer has always had his opinion 
of a preacher who would manipulate his own ap- 
pointment. Verily, he will have his reward. As a 
regenerated man he was true to his own ordination 
vows here, and left all with the bishop. But, 
while doing nothing to affect his appointment, oft- 
entime there would be moments of great anxiety 
and fear. 

At the last Annual Conference the writer went up 
with the blessing of sanctification keeping his soul 
in a restfulness that literally amazed him. All fear 
was cast out. The conviction of God's overruling 
power in the appointments stood up like an Alpine 
range in the soul, while a peace abided in him 
during the whole session of this Conference, under 
peculiarly trying circumstances, that was like a 
sea whose borders could not be reached and whose 
depths defied measurement. 

Sixth, the blessing brings an ability to cast all 
care immediately upon Christ. There is such a 
thing as casting your burden upon God and after- 
ward resuming it. There is also such a thing as 
placing one's load of trouble upon the Saviour, 
but not until having first borne it a great while. 

One of the blessed features of sanctification is 
that it teaches the lesson and imparts the power of 



1 7 6 SANC TIFICA TION. 

instantaneously casting every thing like trouble 
upon the Lord. The man, to his delight, finds a 
new impulse or a new law at work within him, and 
one whose working saves him every moment from 
being heavy-laden. 

The writer once saw a man receiving brick. 
Several fellow-laborers were tossing two and three 
at a time to him. With an adroitness and expe- 
dition admirable to behold, this man caught the 
brick tossed toward him, and in a fxash cast them 
from him in another direction on a neighboring 
pile. If he had paused long enough, he would 
have been covered up and walled in with brick; 
but the transferring movement saved him. 

The case aptly illustrates the point on hand. 
Cares are coming to and threatening to fall upon 
all. If we allow them they would soon bury us 
alive. As it is, many Christians are covered up or 
borne down or heavy-laden by them for a greater or 
less length of time. Sanctification is the only life 
I know of that refuses to allow trouble to rest upon 
the soul; but with a faith movement, instantane- 
ous as a flash of lightning, the man throws the 
mistake, trouble, besetment, annoyance, or disap- 
pointment at once upon the altar and leaves it 
there, and forever. No matter how they come 
and when and where, no matter how swiftly and 



ITS C ONTIN UED PRESENCE. 1 7 7 

multitudinously they fall, the sanctified soul, re- 
fusing to bear their sad weight a moment, places 
them upon his Lord and goes free. 

Glory be to God for this heaven-sent power! 
There are many other points that the writer would 
like to mention, but cannot at this time. He calls 
attention to but a single additional feature, and 
concludes the chapter. 

Sanctification has brought a permanent and 
abiding blessing to the soul. The writer can re- 
call in his religious life, before he received this 
blessing, when he has languished under days of 
spiritual emptiness and experience of dryness, bar- 
renness, and deadness, when the heart could not 
praise God, and the tongue seemed to cleave to 
the roof of the mouth. 

Reader, listen while I tell you what God has 
done for my soul in sanctification. I tell it in 
humble, thankful joy. For nearly a year the writ- 
er has had an. abiding joy in his soul. There 
has not been a moment in all that time, day or 
night, alone or in company, but he could praise 
God from his heart. We hear of blessings lasting 
for hours and days; but think of a blessing that 
has reigned unbroken for twelve months! And 
yet his is short-lived compared to others he could 

mention who are in this experience. One tells me 
12 



1 yS SAJVC T I PICA TTON. 

that for twenty-five years the blessing has never 
for an instant left her. 

This is sanctification. It has no settled despond- 
ences, knows no despairs, is lifted above the old- 
time fluctuation and variations of feeling and 
faith. Instead, it is marked by evenness of spirit, 
fixedness of faith, a rest that abides, a love that 
nothing can embitter, a peace that flows like a 
river and that nothing can destroy, and a joy that 
no man can take away. 

Blessed be God for sanctification ! May all 
Christians hear the Spirit saying: " To-day, if ye 
will hear my voice, ye may enter by faith into * the 
rest that remaineth for the people of God ! ' " 



CHAPTER XIX. 

CERTAIN OBJECTIONS TO SANCTIFICATION CONSID- 
ERED AND ANSWERED. 

W)^rHEN St. Paul was in Rome the Jews resid- 
W ing there said to him, in regard to the Chris- 
tianity he believed in and confessed: "We desire 
to hear of thee what thou thinkest: for as con- 
cerning this sect, we know that everywhere it is 
spoken against." * 

The expression *'this sect" meant Christianity. 
In spite of its greatness, fullness, and divinity it 
was, they said, everywhere spoken against. Cer- 
tainly, if the system itself be attacked, we may ex- 
pect one of its doctrines to be roughly handled. 

That sanctification is everywhere spoken against 
is patent to all who listen and read. Indeed, as 
far as I can judge, it is now the most offensive of 
all the doctrines of our religion to the people. 

Many of us are familiar with the expression 
** offense of the cross." Can any one tell me 
where that offense resides to-day? You cannot 
have your attention directed to the matter without 
perceiving that the offense of the cross shifts as 
time moves on. It goes from doctrine to doctrine ; 

(179) 



I So SA NC T I PICA TTON. 

it is now in one part of the cross and now in an- 
other. In the first century the offense consisted 
in the being and acknowledging one's self to be a 
Christian. But who sees any offense in that to- 
day? Is it not felt generally that it is a credit to 
be a Christian? In the time of Luther the offense 
of the cross moved again and settled in the doc- 
trine of justification. The Church of that day 
arose and protested against such teaching. He 
that embraced it was made to feel his position 
keenly and bitterly. But who imagines for a mo- 
ment that the offense of the cross is still to be 
found in the claim of pardon by faith? Who is 
made to suffer to-day by arising in the experience- 
meetings of the Church and saying that through 
faith in Christ he enjoys peace with God. The 
offense has gone from that doctrine. Like a star 
it travels, and the next time it becomes stationary 
we find it abiding in the doctrine of the witness of 
the Spirit, as taught by our fathers. 

The reader knows well what reproach and con- 
tempt were heaped upon those who professed to 
enjoy the assurance of salvation. Those that af- 
firmed that truth had to pay dearly for its posses- 
sion. It was to the world and many in the Church 
a most objectionable doctrine. It was, in a word, 
the offense of the cross ! 



OBJEC TIONS ANS WERED. 1 8 1 

But is the offense of the cross in that doctrine 
to-day? Who beheves it for a moment? Accus- 
tomed as we are to hear it on all sides and at all 
times, in . song, prayer, testimony, and sermon, it 
scarcely awakens a comment. 

The offense of the cross has moved once more. 
Where is it to-day, and in which truth or doctrine 
has it settled? Look where you will, and as long 
as you will, and you will be compelled to admit 
that it is to-day resident in the doctrine of entire 
sanctification. Fifty years from now it may be 
abiding in another part of the Christian field, but 
to-day it is to be found in the doctrine of holiness 
as obtained instantaneously by faith in the blood 
of the Son of God. 

Let a man arise and proclaim by tongue or pen 
that he is a Christian, that he is pardoned, that he 
enjoys the witness of the Spirit, and not a ripple 
of disturbance is created. But let him declare in 
assembly or in the columns of a religious news- 
paper that Christ has sanctified his soul, and then 
comes the storm. 

For making such a claim Madam Guyon was 
imprisoned. For asserting that we could be sanc- 
tified instantaneously by faith Mr. Wesley was as- 
sailed on every side. There is something about 
the doctrine that seems to arouse antagonism. 



1^2 SANCTIFICATION. 

Satan cannot endure it, nor does he propose 
that ♦he Church shall come into the possession of 
the lost blessing of Pentecost. 

It is a sweet, loving, blessed doctrine — one, it 
seems, that should delight and gladden every 
Christian heart — viz.: a doctrine that teaches the 
death of sin in the heart, and a perfect love to God 
and man indwelling and reigning there supreme. 
And yet its introduction and proclamation in 
Church and community is the signal of commo- 
tion. The reason is that the offense of the cross 
abides therein. 

Such are the separations, misunderstandings, and 
ecclesiastical ostracism that it produces that but 
one thing can account for a man's openly testify- 
ing to its enjoyment, and that is the fact of its 
possession. In the face of the opposition and death 
that came to the disciples but one thing upheld 
them in preaching the resurrection of Jesus, and 
that thing was that they knew he had risen from 
the dead I 

And so most truly can this writer affirm that in 
view of what will surely come in the future to him 
who claims the blessing of sanctification but one 
fact on earth will enable him to go on preaching 
the doctrine and experience, and that fact is the 
enjoyment of the blessing itself. 



OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 1 83 

As the Jews said to Paul: **It is everywhere 
spoken against." Many are the objections urged 
against it. And yet not one but is easily met and 
explained. Let us notice a few of them. 

First, men object to the psychology of the doc- 
trine. 

The argument against us is that, if we claim 
that depravity is utterly taken out of the soul by 
sanctification, this blessing, being enjoyed by 
parents, will deliver their children from the curse 
of inbred sin. This deduction, we suppose, in the 
objector's mind is that a pure nature is transmitted 
from father to son; that conversion would there- 
after be unnecessary, and all subsequent sin would 
be like the fall of Adam. 

In reply we say, if this holds good against sanc- 
tification, it will also be valid against regeneration; 
and especially if the objector claims that in regen- 
eration the heart is made holy. And if he admits 
that depravity is not taken out at the time of con- 
version, then does he grant what we contend for, 
the need of a second work of grace. Which horn 
of the dilemma will he take ? 

The argument — at first sight formidable — goes 
to pieces under this simple statement: that deprav- 
ity is general, coming upon the race judicially, but 
that salvation is an individual and personal matter. 



I S^ SANC TIFICA TION. 

A man may reach up by faith out of this flood of 
universal evil and obtain the blessings of regenera- 
tion and sanctification; but he has done this only 
for himself — he cannot do it for his son. No one 
can inherit a holy heart. An individual, accepting 
deliverance from the curse of depravity, does not 
stop that dark flood-tide as it rolls down the ages 
upon and through the human race. A bird has 
escaped the storm. An individual has come forth 
from his fellow^s and obtained what each one must 
separately and distinctively find for himself. De- 
pravity will doubtless be coeval with the race of 
man on earth; it has come upon all by birth; but 
we escape from it not through our fathers, not as 
a race, but one by one, through faith in the blood 
of the Lord Jesus Chirst. 

Second, that sanctification is not scriptural. 

In reply to this I direct the reader to turn to 
Chapters XIII., XIV., and XV. of this work, and 
see whether we have not a Biblical basis for the 
doctrine. 

Let him also turn to the prophets in the Old 
Testament and the Epistles in the New, and see if 
he does not discover there descriptions of, and 
facts stated about, a higher life to which we are 
urged to come. 

Let him turn to the fourth chapter of Hebrews, 



OBJECTIONS ANS WE RED. I §5 

and after reading carefully and prayerfully ask 
himself what is this " rest" that Paul is there urg- 
ing Christians to enter upon. It is not pardon or 
conversion, for he calls them brethren and ad- 
dresses them as God's people already. It is not 
heaven, for he tells them to enter in to-day; and 
adds: *'We, w^hich have believed, do enter in." 

What is it but sanctification ? the blessing w^hose 
marked and most blessed feature is a rest of soul 
that nothing can destroy. 

The writer heard a prom.inent evangelist say in 
the pulpit this year that regeneration was men- 
tioned in the Bible about twenty-five times, but 
that sanctification was mentioned one hundred and 
twenty-five. He then added (and he was not a 
sanctified man) that if we believed in the first, we 
ought to believe in the second five times more than 
we did in the first, because it was taught five times 
as much. 

Third, that it is an unnecessary work; that re- 
generation has done all for us that is needed. 

According to the Scriptures the objector has 
made a great mistake. If regeneration is all God 
does to the soul, why is it that regenerated people 
are urged in the word of God to become sanctified ? 
Mind you that to be sanctified is not to grow in 
grace. "The very God of peace sanctify you 



I S6 OBJEC TIONS ANS WERED. 

wholly," says Paul. Here is no development, no 
growth in grace, but a work of God solicited for 
the soul. 

The Bible plainly teaches in this and many other 
passages that there is another work to be done in 
the soul by divine power. 

According to Christian experience the objector 
has made a mistake. The writer has yet to hear 
a regenerated person say that he felt that his heart 
was holy. If the reader doubts, let him institute a 
series of questions. He will find that the universal 
experience is that something is still lacking in the 
soul — a something to be done by grace, a some- 
thing to be taken away, a something to fill the nat- 
ure, that finds descriptive expression in the words, 
a ''clean heart," a "holy heart." 

In a visit to a neighboring State, at a meeting for 
holiness, a venerable minister arose, whom every- 
body in the town knew, loved, and esteemed. His 
had been a blameless life, and he had enjoyed re- 
ligion for years. For the past three years he had 
quietly, yet firmly, opposed the holiness movement. 
Yet suddenly and unexpectedly he gave testimony 
in the meeting to which allusion has been made. 
Among a number of things he said he admitted 
this: "You all know me to be a Christian man, 
and so I am. I walk with God, and yet I feel 



OBJECTIONS ANS WERED. 1 87 

that there is something here in my heart that 
needs to be taken away, a something that is not 
right." 

The writer will never forget the solemnity of the 
face and attitude, and especially the way in which 
the old man of God placed his long bony finger 
over his breast, working it as he spoke, as if he 
would penetrate his heart and extract that dark, 
disturbing, worrying something within. 

Verily, let a man study the Bible and listen to 
Christian testimony, and look deep into his own 
soul, and he will never say that sanctification is an 
unnecessary work. 

Fourth, that our best people do not profess it. 

This objection sweeps us back more than eight- 
een hundred years into the city of Jerusalem. We 
find ourselves in the temple. There is a babel of 
voices around us. The people are discussing 
Christ, and they are saying the identical thing 
that appears in the objection: **Have any of the 
rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him?" In 
other words, do the best people, the prominent 
people, take to Christ and follow him? That 
they did not was sufficient with them to condemn 
the Son of God, unheard and untried. 

We grant that there are many most excellent 
people in the Church who do not believe in the 



1 £8 SANC T I PICA riON. 

doctrine of sanctification, but that is no argument 
against it. If you insist that it is, then with that 
same argument we can overturn the doctrine of 
regeneration. The writer knows some most excel- 
lent people in this city, people high-toned and mor- 
al, who do not believe in conversion; therefore, 
according to the objection above, there is no such 
thing as regeneration. 

The blessing of sanctification is received by a 
perfect consecration, and by a special and perfect 
faith in the blood of Christ to make holy. But sup- 
pose an excellent Christian will not thus consecrate, 
and will not thus believe, what will be the result? 
Simply this: that, although I may be the highest 
in the land, I will not obtain that blessing. It is not 
your excellence that obtains the precious gift of 
God, but your faith. On the other hand, one may 
be the weakest, the obscurest member of the 
Church, and yet, if he complies with the conditions 
mentioned, he will obtain the great blessing. 

The writer has known an elegant woman of the 
world to be unconverted, while her cook was a de- 
vout Christian. And he has also known prominent 
lady members of the Church knowing only the ex- 
perience of regeneration, w^hile their white serv- 
ant girls were enjoying the blessings of sanctifica- 
tion. 



OBJEC TIONS ANS WERED. I S9 

Peter said at Pentecost that it was for an^^ and 
all, to them that were afar off and all that God 
called. Joel said that the blessing of sanctification 
would come upon the servants in the last days. 
The writer has seen this prophecy fulfilled repeat- 
edly. Very humble people are obtaining this high 
blessing of God, even as once before the common 
people heard and followed Christ gladly. 

It deeply offended many then; it offends many 
now. But in the midst of all Christ was glad. 
The Bible said he rejoiced in spirit, and said: '' I 
thank thee, O Father, that thou hast hid these 
things from the wise and prudent and revealed them 
unto babes." 

**Ye see your calling, brethren," said Paul; 
**how that not many wise, nor mighty, nor noble 
are called ; but God hath chosen the weak, the 
base, the despised, and things which are not to 
bring to naught things that are." 

Fifth, it leads to fanaticism. 

This is what many assert and are confident in 
the assertion. Even where they have not seen the 
fanatics made by sanctification, yet have they heard 
of them. They saw a man who saw another man 
Vv^ho saw the fanatics. We are told of the " Come- 
outers," in Mississippi; the "Body Healers,"* 

*As to the doctrine of divine healing, we think the beloved 



1 90 SAJVC T I PICA TION. 

in Kentucky, and the '' Infallibility People," in 
Texas. 

The argument is that this crankiness, practiced 
by a few people claiming holiness, proves the doc- 
trine to be false. This argument, if accepted, 
proves too much, as v^e say in logic. If the fanat- 
icism of a certain number of sanctified people 
proves sanctification to be false, then the fanaticism 
of certain converted people proves the doctrine of 
regeneration to be v^rong. 

Does the reader know any * ' Come-outers ' ' among 
regenerated people? I knew a good old converted 
brother who left the Church for ten years because 
an organ had been introduced in the public wor- 
ship. Did that action of his prove that there was 
no such thing as conversion? Since the writer has 
been in New Orleans he has seen a dozen promi- 
nent members of the Church who w^ere converted 
people get in a huff over a little matter and quit 
com.ing to church for years. They said they could 
worship God at home. The evangelist of Georgia 
has evidently met with some of these people, and 

writer should not class it with " Come-outism," " Infallibility Peo- 
ple," etc.; since many very able, earnest Christians believe heart- 
ily in it, both professors and non-professors of sanctification. They 
refer us to Exodus xv. 26, xxiii. 25; Deuteronomy vii. 15; 2 Chron- 
icles xvi. 12; Psalm ciii. 3; Jeremiah xvii. i^; Matthew viii. 16, 17. 
— L. L. P. 



OBJEC TIONS ANS WE RED. 1 9 1 

he has named them "Old Brother Quitter " and 
*' Old Sister Quitter." Did any one assail the doc- 
trine of regeneration because of the crankiness of 
these individuals? 

In a certain neighboring State, in a community 
where the doctrine of sanctification was never 
preached, where only regeneration was taught and 
believed in, the writer met a man who fancied he 
was God, and therefore infallible. Who for a mo- 
ment regarded this as a fruit of regeneration ? 

As for " Body Healers," there is a certain phy- 
sician in Louisiana — a converted man — who has no 
patience with the doctrine of the second blessing, 
who solemnly affirms that he healed a paralytic man 
by the power of his own will. If a man professing 
the experience of sanctification should say this, he 
would be assailed on all sides and dubbed a fanat- 
ic, and the doctrine of sanctification would be made 
to suffer. And yet this Christian physician states 
that he performed a case of healing by an exertion 
of his will, and nothing is said in ridicule, he re- 
mains highly honored, and the doctrine of regen- 
eration is not assailed. 

The fact is that every religious movement and 
revival (we might add, every doctrine) is aflflicted 
with some extremists, who are generally weak- 
minded, unbalanced, and ignorant people. To 



192 SANC T I PICA TION. 

hold Christianity or any of its doctrines accounta- 
ble for the erratic course of this class of people is a 
manifest and gross injustice. Nor is it always done. 

All recognize the folly of the *' Millerites;" but, 
while we condemn their course, we do not the less 
believe in the second coming of Christ to judge 
the world. 

Simon Stylites, perched on a pillar for years, 
has excited the contemptuous smile of multitudes; 
but none the less did the smihng throng beheve in 
the doctrine of self-denial and mortification of the 
body. Stylites was a fanatic, but the doctrine was 
divine. It was not the doctrine that made the man 
fanatical. The weakness was in himself, and 
would have as readily manifested itself in some 
other line. 

So, when people enter upon the experience of 
sanctification, and not clearly understanding it, 
and being uninstructed or unbalanced in some re- 
spects, wander into lines of error, the whole occur- 
rence proves but one thing, and that is that the err- 
ing brother or sister is simply ignorant, weak- 
minded, or misguided. 

When a steam-boat boiler explodes on the Missis- 
sippi River no one dreams of saying that the steam 
was at fault, but that something was the matter with 
the boiler. 



OBJECTIONS ANS WERED, 1 93 

As truly there is no fault to be found with the 
doctrines of regeneration and sanctification, but 
there is oftentimes something serious the matter 
with people who profess them. For the sake of 
common sense and justice let us distinguish be- 
tween steam and a weak boiler, between a doctrine 
and a weak human vessel. 

It is certainly significant that the objectors to the 
doctrine of sanctification, in leveling their shafts of 
ridicule, invariably call attention to the fanatical 
exponents of the doctrine. Why is it that in op- 
posing and denouncing it they point only to the 
cranks, and- not to the grand men and women who, 
by countless thousands, are enjoying and adorning 
this doctrine of God our Saviour? 

With equal justice a guide might direct the at- 
tention of the traveler to the lepers of Palestine as 
the type of the Asiatic, or the dwarfs of Tyrol as a 
sample of the ma'nhood of Europe. 

It is something more than significant — it is suspi- 
cious — that the objector only mentions the fanatic, 
and withholds the names of Wesley, Clark, Car- 
vosso, Asbury, McKendree, Fletcher, Peck, Fos- 
ter, Lovick Pierce, the saintly Inskip, the holy 
Finney, and thousands of others who have en- 
joyed and professed the blessing of sanctification. 
13 



CHAPTER XX. 

ADDITIONAL OBJECTIONS TO SANCTIFICATION CON- 
SIDERED AND ANSWERED. 

I^TOTHING is easier than fault-finding, and no 
jwt movement of the tongue or pen is less de- 
pendent for its exercise upon intellectuality and 
correctness of information. Indeed, the writer has 
observed through life that the less knowledge peo- 
ple have of the subject criticised the more do they 
indulge in fault-finding. 

The name of one of our sacred songs is "We 
shall know each other better when the mists have 
cleared away." This is true; but it is also true 
that if we knew each other better the mists would 
be cleared away now, and indeed never would have 
formed. 

Alas for the objections, grounded in ignorance, 
that are hurled at the holy doctrine of sanctifica- 
tion and the people who profess it ! 

A sixth objection is that it is nothing but a piece 
of Pharisaism. 

The idea is that a sanctified man is constantly 

parading his own goodness and hoHness. Before 

you believe that, listen carefullv to what the sanc- 
(194) 



OBJECTIONS ANS WERED. 1 95 

tified man says. His invariable testimony is that 
through faith in the blood of Christ God killed 
the principle of sin within him. Compare his ex- 
perience with that of a regenerated man, and see 
where abides the most spiritual pride. 

The regenerated man, as a rule, looks for holi- 
ness to come through growth in grace, and growth 
in grace we know to be the work of man. The 
sanctified man has obtained the blessing of holiness 
not by work, but by faith in the blood of the Sav- 
iour. He himself did nothing but surrender to God 
and believe that the blood made holy. The Holy 
Ghost did the work. Where is the Pharisaism in 
this? 

The constant testifying on all occasions to the 
possession of a pure heart arises from several facts : 
First, the joy of such a possession; second, the 
desire that others might obtain what now gladdens 
him; and third, there is a divine pressure upon the 
soul to witness continually to the blessing. More- 
over, the man knows that if he ceases to testify to 
its reality and presence he will lose the blessing. 
The condition of retaining it is to declare it. It is 
not given for the selfish enjoyment of the man, but 
that the Church might know of it and enter in 
again upon the love and glory and power of Pen- 
tecost. 



1 9^ SANC TIFICA riON. 

This explanation should certainly remove from 
the mind of the objector the suspicion of the pres- 
ence of the Pharisee in the testimony and life of 
the brother claiming sanctification. 

Seventh, it depreciates regeneration. 

Not so. Sanctification has no quarrel w^ith re- 
generation. They move in different spheres, aim 
at different things, and accomplish different works. 
Regeneration breaks the power of sin by the im- 
partation of spiritual life; sanctification destroys 
sin. Regeneration cleanses the nature from all 
personal sin; sanctification destroys inherited sin 
or depravity. Regeneration makes one a child of 
God ; sanctification makes the heart holy. There 
is no clash or collision between the two, save only 
in the fancies of misinformed and mistaken men. 

Eighth, that men claiming this blessing isolate 
themselves from their brethren in holiness associa- 
tions and meetings. 

Again here is a mistake. Did Wesley and the 
other young men seeking holiness of heart isolate 
themselves from the world by their ''holy club?" 
Did they not do more work for humanity? Were 
they not overflowing with love and good deeds to 
all men? 

I notice that we have missionary societies in our 
Churches and Sunday-schools. Is it considered 



OB JE C TIONS ANS WE RED. 1 9 7 

an isolation? Are not all welcome? and is it not 
done merely to simplify and expedite missionary 
matters? 

The Sunday-school and the ladies' aid societies 
and parsonage societies are not formed with a view 
to isolation; but their special meetings apart from 
other services are felt to be best calculated to 
achieve the particular end in view. So there is no 
exclusive and excluding spirit in the holiness asso- 
ciations and meetings now held all over the land. 
They are held in that name because the men at- 
tending have but one object in view at the time, 
and that is the obtainment of a special blessing. 
Instead of being an exclusive, self-admiring socie- 
ty, the notice of the meeting is published and 
everybody invited to come. As for an organiza- 
tion, there is none such. There are several offi- 
cers, but their only duty is to see about the time 
and place of meeting. As for Constitution and By- 
laws, there exists nothing of the kind; there is not 
the stroke of a pen in that direction. 

Methodism has not truer and more devoted sons 
and daughters anywhere than in the people in her 
midst who enjoy the blessing of sanctification. 

Ninth, it teaches that there is no more growth in 
grace. 

On the contrary it declares that we never grow 



198 SA NC TIFICA TION. 

SO rapidly in grace as when we have received the 
purifying blessing. The great hinderance to growth 
in grace in the regenerated man is inbred sin or de- 
pravity. He grows in grace, but with "difficulty 
and with much inward fighting. Sanctification re- 
moves this obstructing and disturbing principle, 
and now a swift and uninterrupted development of 
the Christian graces may be had. When we dig 
weeds out of a garden that does not hinder or end, 
but really helps, the growth of the flow^ers. 

Let the reader remember that growth is develop- 
ment, while sanctification is an elimination ; that 
growth is life, while sanctification is the death of an 
evil principle ; and, remembering this distinction, 
the ninth objection will fall into nothing. 

Tenth, the doctrine teaches that we cannot sin, 
and are absolutely perfect. 

It does nothing of the kind. As long as a man 
is a free moral agent, and on probation as w^ell, he 
may sin. If the angels sinned in heaven and Adam 
fell in Eden, then a sanctified man may fall from 
holiness on earth. 

*' What, then, is the advantage of being sancti- 
fied?" one • would ask. Much every way, but 
mainly this : that the inward inclination and tend- 
ency to sin, the proneness to w^ander movement 
of the soul, is utterly removed. 



OB JE C TIONS ANS WE RED. 1 99 

The only perfection that the sanctified man 
teaches and claims is a perfect love, that does not 
sour; a perfect purity of heart, that is constantly 
realized; and a perfect rest of faith in Christ, that 
nothing is able to destroy. 

Eleventh, it teaches that v^e cannot be tempted 
any more. 

It does nothing of the kind. So far from this 
being the case, the holders of this doctrine believe 
that a man is never more violently tempted than 
after being sanctified. There is, however, this 
distinguishing mark in his experience under temp- 
tation; and that is a marvelous calmness, a poise, 
and steadiness of the spirit through it all. The 
struggle is not within, as formerly, but the delight- 
ful consciousness is that the pressure and onset is 
from without. There is a great difference between 
having an enemy in the room with you, and having 
him locked outside the door. Sanctification puts 
the tempter on the outside. 

Twelfth, that it leads to oddness and eccentric- 

Not necessarily, although in some respects a 
sanctified man will appear peculiar. Felix thought 
Paul was crazy, but the world sees to-day that 
Paul was the wise man, and Felix the insane one 
of the two. Even the Saviour appeared to be be- 



200 SANCTIFICATION. 

side himself to his own brethren and family, and 
they so expressed themselves. 

The world has its ways and customs, its pleasures 
and pursuits. They are all condemned by the Al- 
mighty. Now, when a sanctified man comes out 
altogether from these questionable and prohibited 
things, he, beyond all peradventure, appears odd 
and eccentric. 

Thus Elijah was very odd in the estimation of 
Ahab and his courtiers, and John the Baptist was 
very peculiar in the judgment of Herod and those 
that lived in kings' houses. "Why, only think," 
said the shallow, laughing throng, "what he eats 
and how he dresses, and how dreadful he is in his 
denunciations of nice, respectable people!" So 
they thought and talked, and yet Christ said: 
" There has not risen a greater man than John the 
Baptist." 

Moreover, the two Wesleys and Whitefield and 
the other two young men who formed a Holiness 
Club at Oxford were thought to be ver}^ odd. 
They were even nicknamed. They were so pe- 
culiar that they were called " Methodists." I can 
hear the young people of the town laughing about 
them. "O have you met those odd young men 
at college? They are so very pious that Sunday 
service is not enough for them. They believe in 



OBJEC TIONS ANS WE RED. 20 1 

being perfectly holy ! And, would you believe it r 
they will not attend our dances and plays, and 
won't even throw a card in innocent games. You 
just ought to see them; they are so odd! " 

The longer we brood on the subject, the more 
evident it is that " oddness " is a term with a vari- 
able quantity and when sifted down really means 
that the possessor is different in his spirit, princi- 
ples, and practices from the people of the world. 

If an American citizen went to Africa, and there 
still retained the dress and language of his coun- 
try, he would be odd in the estimation of the dark- 
skinned population ; and if a child of Gcd moves 
through the world in holiness of heart and life, in 
perfect Christ-likeness, he will unquestionably ap- 
pear to be odd. 

Thirteenth, that it makes hobbyists and specia) 
ists out of Christians. 

This again is an unfounded charge. A few in- 
dividuals may run the doctrine into extremes, but 
this is not the history of the body of those enjoy- 
ing this blessing. One of the most active general 
workers the writer knows of is a sanctified man. 
He is foremost in his State on the Sabbath ques- 
tion, the temperance question, and every other 
question that affects the glory of Christ and the 
good of man. And what is true of him is true of 



202 SANC T I PICA TION. 

the great body of ministers claiming this blessing. 
They are active in every good work, they declare 
the whole counsel of God, and bring up each year 
to Conference the record of scores of conver- 
sions. 

At a certain famous Holiness camp-ground ev- 
ery doctrine is presented from the pulpit, and last 
year, among the different subjects handled, a most 
masterly sermon on Church finances was preached 
by Bishop Key. 

The thirteenth objection, like the rest, is unjust 
and incorrect. But we cannot but call the read- 
er's attention to the consideration of a certain fact 
which is placed in the form of a question. Sup- 
pose you had the blessing of sanctification, sup- 
pose you saw that it was the crowning experience 
of the Christian life, that it brought a rest to the 
soul and power to the life, that it was a full salvation 
from not only outward but inward sin, would you 
not want to proclaim it at all times and every- 
where? As you saw your brethren full of inward 
fears, pain, and unrest, could you keep from call- 
ing upon them again and again to come into this 
great blessing? Could you pray or preach with- 
out making some kind of an allusion to it as you 
swept on? 

Mr. Wesley, in a letter, says: **Let all our 



OB JEC TIONS ANS WE RED. 203 

preachers make a point of preaching perfection to 
behevers, constantly, strongly, expHcitly." 

Bishop Asbury made this entry in his journal 
during a season of sickness: *' I have found, by 
strict search, that I have not preached sanctifica- 
tion as I should have done. If I am restored, this 
shall be my theme more pointedly than ever, God 
being my helper." 

In the judgment of some of our people, Mr. 
Wesley and Asbury were specialists and hobby- 
ists. Certain it is that if we, who now enjoy the 
blessing, should give it considerable prominence, 
we are in most excellent company. 

The writer is no prophet, but this he can safely 
predict, and that is that the objectors to sermons 
and conversations on the subject of holiness will 
become specialists and hobbyists themselves on 
the subject at the hour of death. Every man will 
believe in holiness when the soul is about to take 
its flight into the presence of a holy God. We 
will remember then the solemn statement of the 
Bible that *' without holiness no man can see the 
Lord." The main purpose of life and the main 
duty of the soul will be felt then, and the admis- 
sion will be made in the heart, even though it 
struggles not to the lip, that holiness is the time- 
liest, the most appropriate, and most important of 



204 SANC TIFICA TION. 

all themes. O for a man then who can talk about 
and lead one on to holiness! 

Since his reception of the blessing of sanctifica- 
-tion the writer had to deal, among others, with a 
lady full of opposition to the doctrine. So it was 
in her life ; but when she was dying the pastor was 
sent for, and the first expression that fell from her 
lips was: " I am so glad to have you with me ! " 

Looking out to-day at the opposition, I find my- 
self saying: "You will object to sanctification in 
your life, but you will believe in it when you come 
to die." 

• Fourteenth, that it is such a high and exalted 
life that it cannot be retained. 

In reply, we say that the beauty and blessedness 
of sanctification is that it keeps the man. ' ' Kept ' ' 
is one of the titles given to the life. It is peculiar- 
ly a life of faith, and so long as this special faith 
in the sanctifying blood of Christ is exercised so 
long are we kept in the experience of purity. 
There is no agony of protracted strain and effort; 
fear that hath torment is cast out, and, of conse- 
quence, the experience is one of constant inward 
rest. 

There is no feeling of high rope-walking, nor 
the trepidation of skirting the edge of great preci- 
pices. It is a life of broad, green pastures and 



OByEC TIONS ANS WERED. 205 

Still waters, and the Shepherd always by the sheep. 
There is a calm flow in the life, and a deep rest in 
the soul, arising from the consciousness of being 
momentarily kept by the power of God. 

Glory to the blood that bought me! 

Glory to its cleansing power! 
Glory to the blood that keeps me! 

Glory, glory evermore! 

■ — Louise M. Rouse. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

The Final Objection That Sanctification Is 
Not a Methodist Doctrine Considered and 
Triumphantly Answered. 

§N many sides we have heard the objection 
gravely urged that sanctification is not a 
Methodist doctrine. As the Church becomes 
more worldly we may expect to hear this strange 
utterance more frequently. In one sense, how- 
ever, it is true. 

I thank God that sanctification is longer and 
broader and older than Methodism. It is Biblical, 
celestial, and eternal. Moreover, all denomina- 
tions have recognized it, and Christians in all 
Churches have enjoyed and taught the doctrine. 

Cardinal Fenelon, of the Catholic Church, had 
this blessing and preached it, and wrote book after 
book on the subject. 

Dr. Upham, of the Presbyterian Church, en- 
joyed the blessing, and wrote concerning it: *'I 
was then redeemed by a mighty power and filled 
with the blessing of perfect love. There was no 
intellectual excitement, no marked joys when I 
reached this great rock of practical salvation, but 
I was distinctly conscious when I reached it." 
(206) 



FINAL OBJECTION ANSWERED. 207 

Time would fail to give the experiences of indi- 
viduals outside of our denomination who have re- 
joiced in this blessing, showing thereby it is broad- 
er and older than Methodism. 

And yet, viewing the matter in a certain light, 
the doctrine is peculiarly Methodistic. It is ours 
from the reason that, as a Church, we were called 
forth providentially to proclaim the truth ; and have, 
as a people, advocated and lived the experience as 
no other branch of Christ's Church has done. 

It shows an ignorance, dense and amazing, on 
the part of a Methbdist preacher or layman to say 
that the doctrine and experience of sanctification 
is un-Methodistic. And when Methodist congre- 
gations, on the presentation of the subject, affect 
surprise, and affirm that we are introducing some 
strange or new doctrine, it is equal to a young girl 
who has been absent a few months at a fashionable 
boarding-school requiring an introduction to her 
mother. In either case we are puzzled for diag- 
nostic words. Here, we say, is a marvelous case 
of unnaturalness, or one of remarkably short 
memory. 

Let us take a swift glance at history, and see if 
this doctrine of instantaneous sanctification by 
faith belongs to the Methodist Church or not. 

In the Conference of 1765 Mr. Wesley asked 



2(- 8 SANC TIFICA 71 ON. 

the question : ' ' What was the rise of Methodism ? ' ' 
The following is the answer given: "In 1729 
my brother Charles and I, reading the Bible, saw 
we could not be saved without holiness ; followed 
after it, and incited others so to do. In 1737 we 
saw that this holiness comes by faith. In 1738 w^e 
saw likewise that men are justified before they arc 
sanctified; but still holiness was our object, inward 
and outward holiness. God then thrust us out to 
raise up a holy people." 

Let me ask the reader here w^hat he thinks of 
this statement given by the founder of the Method- 
ist Church. Ought not the father of our Church 
know the essential features of Methodism better 
than some of its sons born over one hundred years 
later? Look at the italicized words above, and see 
that the very two things now being denied by 
Methodist people were solemnly affirmed by Mr. 
Wesley. 

Turn now to Stevens's ** History of Method- 
ism " (page 270), and read as follows: ** The Holy 
Club was formed at Oxford in 1729, for the sancti- 
fication of its members. The Wesleys there souglit 
purification, and Whitefield joined them for that 
purpose." So w^e see that Methodism was born in 
a Holiness Association. 

We turn next to Bangs 's " History of the Meth- 



FINAL OBJECTION ANSWERED. 209 

odist Episcopal Church" (page 195): *'The doc- 
trine more especially urged upon believers in early 
Methodism was that of sanctification, or holiness of 
heart and life, and this was pressed upon them as 
their -present -privilege^ depending for its accom- 
pHshment now on the faithfulness of God, who 
had promised to do it. It was the baptism of the 
Holy Ghost which fired and filled the hearts of 
God's ministers at that time." 

In 1766 Mr. Wesley wrote to his brother Charles: 
** Insist everywhere on full salvation received now 
by faith. Press the instantaneous blessing." 

In 1768 he wrote to the same: "I am at my 
wit's end with regard to two things — the Church 
and Christian perfection. Unless both you and I 
stand in the gap in good earnest, the Methodists 
will drop them both." Some people have affected 
to believe that Mr. Wesley was at his wit's end be- 
cause of the doctrine being preached; but read the 
letter, and see that his trouble arose from the fact 
that he feared the truth would be lost. 

Again, other people have asserted that Mr. Wes- 
ley himself never claimed the blessing. In reply 
we quote a letter written by him in 1771 : '' Many 
years since I saw that without holiness no man 
shall see the Lord. I began by following after it. 

Ten years after God gave me a clearer view than 
14 



2 I O SANC TIFICA T/OX. 

I had had before how to obtain it — namely, by 
faith in the Son of God — and immediately I de- 
clared to all: *We are saved from sin, zve are 
made holy by faith.'' This I testified in private, in 
public, in print, and God confirmed it by a thou- 
sand witnesses." 

In 1761-63 he wrote to tw^o of his preachers: 
"You have over and over denied instantaneous sanc- 
ttfication, but I have known and taught it above these 
twenty years. I have continually testified for these 
five and twenty years, in private and public, that 
we are sanctijied^ as well as justified, by faith. It 
is the doctrine of St. Paul, St. James, St. Peter, 
and St. John, and no otherwise Mr. Wesley's than 
it IS the doctrine of every one who preaches the 
pure and whole gospel. I tell you as plain as I can 
speak where and when I found this.^ I found it in 
the oracles of God, in the Old and New Testaments, 
when I read them with no other view or desire 
than to save my own soul." 

More than once the writer has heard Methodist 
people say that Mr. Wesley believed in sanctifica- 
tion in the beginning of his ministr}^, but changed 
his mind toward the conclusion of his life. 

In utter refutation of this I direct the reader to 
'* Wesley's Works" (Vol. VII., pages 376-384); 
also to a letter written by him in 1790, only two 



FINAL OB J EC TION ANS WERED. 2 1 1 

years before his death, where he says: "This 
doctrine is the grand depositum which God has 
lodged with the people called Methodists ; and for 
the sake of propagating this chiefly he appears to 
have raised us up." 

Does this look like he had changed his views? 
Let the reader turn to Wesley's " Christian Per- 
fection," and on page 6i see how the matter is 
summed up under four or five points — that sancti- 
fication is deliverance from all sin, is received 
merely by faith, is given instantaneously, and is to 
be expected not at death, but every moment. This 
book was never recalled by Mr. Wesley; but, 
on the contrary, in a late edition he solemnly re- 
affirmed its statements. 

Now we turn to the Fathers. We mention only 
a few: 

Dr. Adam Clarke says in his "Theology: " "If 
the Methodists give up preaching entire sanctifica- 
tion, they will soon lose their glory. Let all those 
who retain the apostolic doctrine that the blood of 
Christ cleanseth from all sin in this life pray every 
believer to go on to perfection and expect to be 
saved while here below, unto fullness of the bless- 
ing of the gospel of Christ." 

Again, in his "Commentary" we find these 
words on Hebrews vi. i: "Many make a violent 



2 1 2 SA2VC TIFICA TION. 

outcry against the doctrine of perfection. Is it too 
much to say of these that they neither know the 
Scripture nor the power of God? " 

Dr. Watson, the great Methodist theologian, 
says in his '' Institutes" (Vol. II., page 450) : *'We 
have already spoken of justification, adoption, re- 
generation, and witness of the Spirit, and we pro- 
ceed to another as distinctly marked and as gra- 
ciously promised in the Holy Scriptures. This is 
the entire sanctification of believers. This," he 
goes on to say, **is a still higher degree of deliver- 
ance from sin." 

Carvosso, as widely known as either of the 
above, writes in his autobiography that several 
months after his conversion he began to crave in- 
ward holiness. *^For these I prayed and searched 
the Scriptures. At length one evening, while en- 
gaged in a prayer-meeting, the great deliverance 
came! I began to exercise faith by believing: I 
shall have the blessing now\ Just that moment a 
heavenly influence filled the room, and no sooner 
had I uttered the words from my heart, ' I shall 
have the blessing now,' than refining fire went 
through my heart, illuminated my soul, scattered 
its life through every part, and sanctified the whole. 
I then received the full witness of the Spirit that 
the blood of Jesus had cleansed me from all sin." 



FINAL OBJECTION ANS WERED. 2 1 3 

Bishop Asbury wrote thus to a minister: ** Preach 
sanctification, directly and indirectly, in every ser- 
mon." He wrote to another: **0 purity I O 
Christian perfection ! O sanctification I It is 
heaven below to feel all sin removed. Preach it, 
whether they will hear or forbear. Preach it! " 

Bishop McKendree, in a letter to Bishop Asbury, 
describes his conversion; then adds: *' Not long 
after Mr. Gibson preached a sermon on sanctifica- 
tion, and I felt its weight. This led me more mi- 
nutely to examine my heart. I found remaining 
corruption, embraced the doctrine of sanctifica- 
tion, and diligently sought the blessing it holds 
forth." Farther on he tells how, while walking in 
a field, he received in an overwhelming way the 
grace he sought. 

Here are the five leading names in early Meth- 
odism. We could give many more, but cannot for 
lack of space. Does it not look as if the Method- 
ist Church believed in the doctrine of sanctifica- 
tion? 

We turn now to the Conferences. In 1824 the 
bishops of our Church, in their quadrennial address 
to the General Conference, said: *' Do we come 
to the people in the fullness of the blessing of the 
gospel of peace ? Do we insist on the witness of 
the Spirit and entire sanctification through faith in 



2 1 4 SANC TIFICA TION. 

Christ. Are we contented to have the doctrine of 
Christian holiness an article of our creed only, 
without becoming experimentally and practically 
acquainted with it? If Methodists give up the doc- 
trine of entire sanctification, or suffer it to become 
a dead letter, we arp a fallen people. Holiness is 
the main cord that binds us together; relax this, 
and you loosen the whole system. This will ap- 
pear more evident if we call to mind the original 
design of Methodism. It was to raise up and pre- 
serve a holy people. This was the principal ob- 
ject which Mr. Wesley had in view. To this end 
all the doctrines believed and preached by the 
Methodists tend." To this address are attached 
the names of Bishops McKendree, Hedding, Soule, 
George, and Roberts. 

In 1832 the General Conference issued a pastor- 
al address to the Church, in which we find these 
words: *'When we speak of holiness we mean 
that state in which God is loved with all the heart 
and served with all the power. This, as Method- 
ists, we have said, is the privilege of the Christian 
in this life. And we have further said that this 
privilege maybe secured instantaneously by an act 
of faith, as is justification. Why, then, have we so 
few living witnesses that the blood of Jesus Christ 
cleanseth from all sin? Among primitive Method- 



FINAL OBJECTION ANS WERED. 2 1 5 

ists the experience of this high attainment in rehg- 
ion may justly be said to have been common. 
Now a profession of it is rarely to be met with 
among us. Is it not time to return to first princi- 
ples? Is it not time that we throw off the incon- 
sistency with which we are charged m regard to 
this matter? Only let all who have been born of 
the Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God, 
seek with the same ardor to be made perfect in 
love as they sought for the pardon of their sins, 
and soon will our class meetings and love-feasts be 
cheered by the relation of experiences of this char- 
acter, as they now are with those which tell of jus- 
tification and the new birth." 

In 1874 the bishops of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, South, thus concluded their address to the 
General Conference : " Extensive revivals of relig- 
ion have crowned the labors of our preachers ; and 
the life-giving energy of the gospel, in the conver- 
sion of sinners and in the sanctijication of believers, 
has been seldom more apparent amongst us. The 
boonof Wesleyan Methodism, as we received itfrom 
our fathers, has not been forfeited in our hands." 

To this document is affixed the signatures of Bish- 
ops Robert Paine, George F. Pierce, H. H. Kava- 
naugh, W. M. Wightman, E. M. Marvin, D. S. 
Doggett, H, N. McTyeirc, and J. C. Keener. 



2 1 6 SANCTIFICA TION, 

In 1884 the Centennial Conference of American 
Methodism, which met in Baltimore, re-affirmed 
the faith of the entire Church in all its separate 
branches: *'We remind you, brethren, that the 
mission of Methodism is to promote holiness. It 
is not a sentiment or emotion, but a principle in- 
wrought in the heart, the culmination of God's 
work in us followed by a consecrated life. In all 
the borders of Methodism this doctrine is preached 
and the experience of sanctification is urged. We 
beseech you, brethren, stand by your standards 
on this subject." 

Turn now to the *' Wesleyan Catechism No. 2." 
After asking and answering the question, *'What 
is regeneration ? ' ' farther on we find the following : 

'* Question, — What is entire sanctification? 

'^Answer, — The state of being entirely cleansed 
from sin so as to love God w^ith all our heart and 
mind and soul and strength, and our neighbor as 
ourselves." 

Turn now to the Hymn Book. If we glance at 
the edition preceding the last, in the second verse 
of hymn 542 we read these w^ords of Charles Wes- 
ley: 

Speak the second time: "Be clean!" 
Take away mj inbred sin: 
Every stumbling-block remove; 
Cast it out by perfect love. 



FINAL OBJECTION ANS WERED. 2 1 7 

This hymn has been left out of the new Hymn 

Book.* Let the Hymn Book Committee answer 

to their conscience now and to God at the day of 

judgment why they did this. 

To purge the Hymn Book of the doctrine of 
the second blessing, the iconoclasts would have 
been under the necessity of eliminating hundreds 
of stanzas instead of one. 

The expression: ** Speak the second time, 'Be 
clean I ' " seems to be obnoxious to many. What 
a pity it is for them that the same thought crops 
out in the grand old hymn, *' Rock of Ages! " 

Be of sin the double cure, 

Save from wrath and make me fur e. 

Let the reader take up the attenuated last edition 
of our hymns and find still forty-four left that 
teach plainly the doctrine of sanctification. Espe- 

* Breathe, O breathe thy loving Spirit 

Into every troubled breast; 
Let us all in thee inherit, 

Let us find that second rest: 
Take away our bent to sinning, 

Alpha and Omega be, 
End of faith, as its beginning, 

Set our hearts at liberty. 

[This clear verse is retained in the new Hymn Book, — L. 
L.P.] 



2l8 SANCTIFICATION. 

daily do we call attention to hymns 422, 425, 429, 
440, 445, 447, and 449, and to 411, familiar to 
thousands, but never losing its sweetness and 
blessedness: 

Lord, I believe a rest remains 

^o 2\\ thy people 'known \ 
A rest where pure enjoyment reigns, 

And thou art loved alone: 

A rest where all our soul's desire 

Is fixed on things above ; 
Where fear and sin and grief expire, 

Cast out by perfect love. 

O that I JtOTv the rest might know. 

Believe, and enter in! 
IVozu, Saviour, now the power bestow, 

And let me cease from sin. 

Remove this hardness from my heart, 

This unbelief remove; 
To me the rest of faith impart. 

The Sabbath of thy love. 

And now turn to the Discipline. 

In the baptismal service, and in the collect said 
at the Lord's Supper, and in Article XX., found 
in the first chapter which contains the Articles of 
our religion, the doctrine is both implied and 
taught. 

In the ordination or reception of ministers into 
the Conference it is unmistakably apparent. 

Paragraph 66, Question 2: *'What method do 



FINAL OBJEC TION ANS WERED. 2 1 9 

we use in admitting a preacher into full connec- 
tion? " 

The answer is, that after solemn fasting and 
prayer upon the part of the candidates, the bishop 
shall ask them the following questions : 

**Have you faith in Christ?" "Are you going 
on to ferfecttonf "Do you expect to be made 
-perfect in love in this life? " "Are you g?'oant?ig 
after itf' 

Is it not marvelous that a Methodist preacher, 
after having answered these questions affirmatively, 
should ever deny the doctrine of sanctification, or, 
worse still, take a stand against it? He once sol- 
emnly vowed that he believed in the experience, 
was going on to it, expected to obtain it in this life, 
and was groaning after it; and now, pitiful to re- 
late, he pens articles, preaches sermons, or writes 
a book against a doctrine that he swore in the 
presence of God and a hundred preachers that he 
firmly believed. 

It was on condition of his avowed belief in that 
doctrine, and in view of his promise to seek and 
obtain the experience, that the Methodist Church 
admitted him into her pulpits as an ordained 
preacher. And yet here he is denying the faith, 
giving up the struggle, and surrendering the dis- 
tinguishing doctrine of our Church, which Mr. 



2 20 SANCTIFICA TION. 

Wesley called "the grand defositum of Method- 
ism." 

And now I submit it to the reader, who has fol- 
lowed me in my quotations from Methodist Con- 
ferences, standards, bishops, and fathers, the ques- 
tion: Who is most truly a Methodist — he that 
believes in, or he that denies, the doctrine of sanc- 
tification? And who has left in creed and life the 
Methodist Church — the person who denies the 
doctrine and experience of holiness received by 
faith, or the individual who enjoys and testifies to 
that most precious blessing? 

Verily, as the writer takes note of those who op- 
pose, and contrasts them with the spiritual giants 
of our Church, who enjoyed and lived and advo- 
cated the doctrine of sanctification, and who were 
the founders and deliverers of Methodism in the 
past, he cannot but cry out: '* Let me live the life 
of these men, believe what they believed, do as 
they did, and may my last end be like theirs ! " 

It is a blessed thought, however, that the truth of 
sanctification comes from a higher source than 
Methodism. The doctrine is not of man, but of 
God. And so it will live and flourish in spite of 
all opposition and unbelief. Church after Church 
may refuse to proclaim it, denomination after de- 
nomination may lose this great jplessing of Pente- 



FINAL OBJEC TION ANS WERED. 2 2 1 

cost ; the Methodist Church itself, that was raised 
up of God for the main purpose of restoring this 
blessing to the people of God and *' spreading 
scriptural holiness over the land," may prove rec- 
reant to her trust and surrender the doctrine 
v^hich was once her glory and joy and strength. 
Nevertheless the doctrine will live and the experi- 
ence will be enjoyed by countless multitudes until 
the end of time. 

If necessary God will raise up other Churches 
and stir up distant peoples, in order that his chil- 
dren may hear of and possess by faith a full salva- 
tion from all sin, inward as well as outward. 

The experience that Christ promised his disci- 
ples, and his Church after them, in the words *' If 
the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free in- 
deed " shall not perish, but shall abide as the 
priceless legacy of the Church forever. 

May God grant our beloved Church to stand 
with lips purified by the coal of fire from the altar, 
with heart aflame with love, with soul burning with 
holiness, with spirit and body ready to spring away 
with the messages of God, with wing of faith and 
wing of consecration in constant, tireless move- 
ment, and with this cry of the soul ascending con- 
tinually: *'Here am I, Lord; send me! " 

May sanctification, the lost blessing of the 



22 3 SA iVC TIFICA TION. 

Church, be poured out upon the people far and 
near! Then will the Church arise and shine; then 
will a nation be born in a day; one man chase a 
thousand, two put ten thousand to flight, and the 
kingdom of God will come. 



The End. 



THE FOLiUOSUIJlG CORY BE OI?DEl?ED Op THE 

PublisWiig House 1 1. E. CMrcli, South, lashville, Tenn., 

OJ? op 

L. L. PICKETT, Columbia, S. C. . 



C3-003D IDISCO"U"35TTS TO JV.(3-E2>rTS -A-lsTIJ IDEJ^XiEItS. 



ST. PAUL ON HOLINESS, 

This little booklet of twenty pages is strictly scriptural. It is 
based on the Epistle to the Hebrews. It is having a good sale, 
and a number have professed to have been led into the light by 
its perusal. The Holy Spirit has graciously applied the truth 
through it to hungry hearts. All glory to His name ! 

The tenth thousand. 

Prices by mail : 5 cents each, 40 cents per dozen, $2.50 per 
hundred. 



THE HOLY DAY: 



Or, Remember the Sabbath. 

This little book of sixty-one pages, paper covers, is having an 
encouraging sale, and is doing good from all reports. 

"Christian people may do much good by circulating it among 
poor and rich. Leave a copy with every railroad manager and 
newspaper proprietor." — Baltimore Methodist. 

" Brother Pickett is an earnest, zealous worker in the Master's 
vineyard, and with tongue and pen is ever ready to enforce the 
cause of right. We are much pleased with this little book, and 
hope it may obtain a wide circulation. It deals with one of the 
great evils of the day in a plain, practical, forceful style that 
should appeal to all thoughtful natures."— A'ev. J^. S. Jackson, 
15 (223) 



"I have read it carefully, and approve of it with all my heart 
It is the very book which all who have any respect for the Sab- 
bath or fear of punishment for its desecration ought to read. Mr. 
Pickett writes in a plain, forcible, colloquial style; quotes the 
laws requiring and regulating Sabbath-keeping from the Bible, 
and supports all his arguments, pro and con, from the same source, 
so that if any dislike his book, it is only an evidence that their 
carnal minds are at enmity with God's holy book. It is not a 
tedious book to read, and the wonder is that Mr. Pickett could 
condense so much valuable information in so small a volume. He 
takes a wide range ; goes over the whole ground ; takes in the 
railroad syndicates, with all their Sabbath-breaking, including 
that of their employees; Sabbath street-car and livery teams; 
Sunday mails and newspapers; Sunday traveling for worldly 
purposes or pleasure, etc. In a word, he exposes Sabbath-break- 
ing wherever he finds it — in individuals, families, in the 
Churches, in communities, corporations, among commercial men, 
or elsewhere — and all who admit the authority of the Bible 
must feel the force of his arguments. I sincerely wish our more 
than a million of Southern Methodists would get Mr. Pickett's 
little book and read it carefully and prayerfully. I think it 
would set them right on the proper observance of our holy day." 
— Rev. Jno. G. Jones, author of several works. 

Eighth thousand. 

Price 10 cents per copy ; thirteen for $1; $6.50 per hundred. 



WHY I DO NOT IMMERSE, 

"With an argument on Infant Baptism and some points against 
the theory of Baptismal Salvation. Introduction by Rev. H. R. 
Withers, D.D. 

" Mr. Pickett was formerly a member of the North Texas Con- 
ference of our Church, and was located for not consenting to 
practice immersion for baptism. This small pamphlet is to show 
his reasons for not immersing. Our standards, he thinks, are not 
agreed among .themselves on it; his interpretation of the Disci- 
pline does not make it obligatory upon a Methodist minister to 
immerse, and as he' thinks it is not taught in the Bible he, on his 
conscience, refuses to do it. The lovers of this kind of literature 
(224) 



will find much in this to help them. Mr. Pickett t^eems to still be 
loyal to our Church and zealous in his Christian work." — Wes' 
leyan Methodist. 

"A very strong argument on Infant Baptism, and some points 
against the theory of baptismal salvation are appended to the 
main argument. The author says : ' I have been often asked my 
reason for not practicing immersion. I have reasons which to 
my mind are perfectly satisfactory. They are given in the fol- 
lowing pages. They are: First, immersion is not taught in or 
justified by a fair construction of the Scriptures. Second, our 
standards condemn immersion. If these propositions can be 
established, I am surely justified before God and man w^hen I 
follow the standards of my Church and the teachings of Holy 
"Writ, and refuse to immerse for baptism in the triune name of 
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.' It is an excellent tract to give to 
persons infected w^ith the immersion theory." — Herald and Pres- 
byter. 

Many write that it has done them good. Pastors also write 
that it has settled the minds of their people on infant baptism 
and the mode. 

Fifth thousand. 

Price 10 cents; thirteen for $1; $6.60 per hundred. 



LEAVES FROM THE TREE OF LIFE; 
Or, Gleanings from the Word of God. 

It has excellent chapters by Revs.Wm. McDonald. W. B, God- 
bey, A. J. Jarrell, C. J. Oxley, B. F. Gassaway, C. C. Gary, and 
W. C. Dunlap. 

"These Bible-readings arc the fruits of an earnestness that 
breathes in every line, a diligence that spared no labor or pains 
in their preparation, and an evangelical fervor that is felt all 
along by the responsive reader. While we might diff'er here 
and there from the author's exegesis on minor points, we heart- 
ily commend his soundness in doctrine and the perspicuity and 
effectiveness of his method. We trust this book may attain a 
wide circulation and do much good." — T)r. 0. P. Fitzgerald. 

"This book, so far as Ave know, is unlike any thing now in 
print, since it takes up leading points of doctrine and presents 
15 (225) 



them clearly and strongly, each forming a chapter. Here are 
a few of them : ' VVliat God Is to Us; Repentance; Regeneration; 
The Gift of the Holy Ghost; Apostasy; Examples of Apostasy; 
Love; Missions; Prayer; Infant Baptism; Sanctification,' etc. 
This will give the reader an idea of the work. The treatment 
of these subjects is purely Biblical, a large, per cent, of each ar- 
ticle being quotations from the Bible. It is clear, pointed, and 
full of valuable information for the careful student."— CW//m/ 
Melhodist. 

" It is original and contributed, and treats of almost every phase 
of practical Christian doctrine and experience. It is a good book 
to read, and hence a x^rofitable book to purchase."— C7<r/s/<aH>r?7- 
ness. 

The second thousand is now selling, the book having been out 
but a short time. 

Price $1. 



THE BOOK AND ITS THEME. 



Introduction by Bishop Key; two chapters by Rev. B. C'arra- 
dine. 

''A clear, suggestive, refreshing volume, ably demonstrating 
that God has given to the world a book, and that this book is a 
treatise on holiness." — Rev. S. A. Keen, Cincinnati, O. 

"This treatise on the much traversed theme of sanctification 
by a young author evinces both talent and piety. He has evi- 
dently given thorough study to his subject, and presents some 
new views of old doctrine and urges some strenuous proofs in 
reply to objections to the 'second blessing' theory of sanctifi- 
cation. The chapters on ' Living and Dying Witnesses,' and that 
on 'Tobacco' are particularly good, though in the instance of tjic 
latter the tendency to add proof to proof is apparently too marked. 
The book contains two chapters on 'Entire Sanctification,' by 
Rev. Dr. Carradine, which originally appeared in the columns of 
this paper and were much applauded by the advocates of this 
theory. They furnish a fitting conclusion to Brother Pickett's 
volume, and will add to its sale."— A^ew; Orleans Christian Advocate. 

Price $L 
(226) 



THE DANGER SIGNAL; 

Or, A Shot at the Foe. 

This is a book on Romanism. It is treated historically, log- 
ically, scripturally. Romanism is examined in her doctrines," 
spirit, results, and purposes. It is in two parts : Romanism of 
the past, Romanism of the present. It is shown to be the foe 
of our God, our Bible, our religion, and our civilization. About 
one hundred authorities are quoted, among them many eminent 
names of the living and the dead. The issue is a live one. Get 
the book. 

Price $1 . 



SANCTIFICATION. 

By Rev. B. Carradine. 

This book will find readers and produce conviction. It is 
based on the word of God, and wrought out of a deep experi- 
ence and a clear head. It is logical, interesting, soul-stirring. 
The truths of Holy Writ and the teachings of Methodism are 
focalized upon the subject in hand. The author is widely known 
and highly esteemed. We predict a wide sale of his book . Or- 
der now. 

Price, cloth, 80 cents. 

(227) 



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